The Flood That Follows
by ContemplativeCkik
Summary: Rin is the MVP of the Softball Club. When a stray ball ends up through the art room window, she finds herself face-to-face with Maki, the girl from her class who's so intimidating that even the upperclassmen are afraid of her. Well, their relationship can only get better from here, right? Rating subject to change. Softball AU. Drama/Comedy. RinMaki. On Temporary Hiatus until March
1. What Goes Up

_To flood everything behind you; to not worry about the consequences of your actions._

* * *

"Hoshizora, please read the next paragraph for us."

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, the very last day of Summer, and Rin wished more than anything that she could just be outside right now, running around in the warmth of the sun. Her leg bounced under the desk as she daydreamed of running and playing and having fun. The classroom was stuffy and humid, like an educational swamp, and it made her crave that fresh, warm air even more. She sighed.

"Hoshizora."

Her mind wandered back to yesterday's softball game. It had been their tenth game of the Fall season, and the team was undefeated so far. They had won the much more important national Spring series earlier in the year, and were currently the best high school softball team in the country; it was the school's first national win in a long time, and Rin had been named MVP. She hoped to win this season too, even though the Fall season didn't mean as much since a lot of schools weren't participating. She sighed again, remembering the awesome home-run she had hit last night, and the cheers and chants from the crowd. Softball was awesome.

"Hoshizora! I said read the next paragraph!"

The teacher's voice startled her out of her daydreams, and she stood up hastily. "Nya? Oh, uh, Sorry! Umm… what page are we on?"

Before the teacher could begin to loudly lecture Rin about needing to pay attention in class, the bell rang, shrill and echoing throughout the crowded classroom. Rin had to stop herself from doing a celebratory fist-pump for not having to read the paragraph in question, as the teacher left and lunch break began. As other students filtered out of the room, a different rambunctious ginger slid into room, almost knocking over several girls in the process.

"Honoka-chan, you don't have to sprint over here, you could just walk," Rin said, chuckling.

"I have something really important to tell you though!" Honoka said as she plopped down in the empty seat next to Rin, slamming her hands down on the desk excitedly.

"Whoa, really! What is it?" Rin also slammed her hands on her own desk.

"Uh… it's really nice out today. And also that I missed you. And that I missed Hanayo-chan, too. Speaking of which, where is she?" she paused in the middle of opening a package of melon bread to look frantically around the room. She caught the tiny brunette's gaze as the girl in question made her way to the door.

"Kayo-chin where are you going?" Rin asked extra loudly, just to make sure the other girl heard her, causing a few of the other lingering girls in the class to recoil at just how loud it was.

"...-er club…"

"You what?"

"I said I have to go submit something to the newspaper club," Hanayo shouted back before scurrying out of the room.

"It seems like she has to do newspaper club stuff a lot," Honoka furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Well she _is_ in the newspaper club," Rin snickered as she took her own lunch, a bento with cold soba noodles, out of her bag.

"That makes a lot of sense actually."

From the seat behind where Honoka sat, several loud coughs erupted, followed by the grating sound of a metal chair clanging across the floor. A few seconds of silence followed before the girl at the desk all but stormed out of the classroom, mane of red hair swirling around her shoulders like a flame as she left. The two orange-haired girls tried their best not to stare at her through the classroom windows as she stomped down the hall.

"Jeez, I almost forgot she was there. That Nishikino girl is seriously scary," Honoka said, her voice weirdly cautious, like she was afraid the redhead would hear her even though she was long gone.

"Yeah, I don't really know what's up with her. She leaves in the middle of class for no reason sometimes and the teachers don't even say anything. She didn't go to our middle school, right?"

"I heard her parents are in the mafia and they fled here from Greece or somewhere, and I think they might kill people. I bet she's so quiet 'cause she's afraid she'll spill their secrets," Honoka explained between bites of her bread.

"I'm pretty sure that's made up."

"Even us upperclassmen don't wanna mess with her. I heard she tried to set the home-ec room on fire once," Honoka waved her bread in the air, gesturing for emphasis. "I think she's in the Art Club. Maybe the Art Club is just a cover for the Murder Club."

"I was there, she wasn't trying to commit arson, she just burned the hell out of an omelette. Why are you so convinced that she murders people?" Rin asked curiously after slurping down most of her noodles.

"I dunno, I guess she just has a face that says 'I could kill a guy if I wanted to and get away with it'; a Murder Face®."

"That's not a real thing," Rin raised an eyebrow at her just as the warning bell rang. "Do you think you should maybe go back to your own classroom before Umi-chan finds you?"

"She'll never catch me, I'm a master of escape," Honoka grinned, which made Rin smile and laugh a little in return. "See you at practice!" the upperclassman called out as she dashed out of the room in the same speedy fashion that she had entered it.

"You're not even in the club, Honoka-chan! You- jeez, okay, don't say bye to me or anything."

* * *

Rin always felt like she shined brightest on the baseball field. Just standing out in the dirt with the sun shining down on her cleared her head. All her insecurities and all of her worries fizzled up when she felt the familiar weight of the mitt on her hand, the dirt getting kicked up around her feet as she moved. It was the only place she could really focus.

She stood ready on first as their pitcher, a tall, serious girl with hair like a riptide, wound up a pitch. Though it was just a practice game, that girl always pitched like her life depended on it, like she thought it would dishonor her family if a pitch connected; she was the team captain for a number of reasons, but her no-nonsense attitude was certainly the most important one. She let the ball fly out of her hand, the girl at bat hitting it less like it was a softball and more like it was an annoying fruit fly. It rolled weakly to Rin's feet, where she picked it up and waved it in the air above her head.

"You're out, Nico-chan," she called, trying to look apologetic but not able to suppress the amused grin on her face.

"God dammit!" the tiny girl at home plate cursed, chucking her bat towards Rin. It flew about three feet before bouncing and rolling limply across the foul line, the clanging of the aluminum almost sounding like laughter. It was laughing at Nico for having weak baby arms. Rin was trying really hard not to also laugh at Nico for the same reason.

"Watch your language!" the pitcher shouted. Nico ignored her.

"If you're so fuckin' good, why don't you show us how you hit that home-run yesterday, then," she said, stomping over to first and yanking her helmet off, all but throwing it at Rin.

Rin shrugged, tossing the ball back to the pitcher's mound and handing Nico her mitt. She hustled over to home plate, grabbing the bat from where it lay in the dirt. "If I hit it outside the fence, you owe me a thousand yen!"

"Rin, don't distract Nico. She's supposed to be practicing her swing," the pitcher said with a sigh, her eyebrows knit together in annoyance even though she was already winding up a pitch.

"Don't worry, Umi-taichou. She can practice losing this bet in a second instead," Rin said with a grin. The captain loosed the pitch towards her, and Rin swung with the strength of at least one and a half very small lions. Maybe more.

The bat slammed into the ball, causing it to sail through the air, arcing over the fence and directly into an open window on the third floor of the school. Rin dropped the bat and she could've sworn she felt her heart stop when she realized that window in particular was the window of the art room.

"Oh no," Rin whispered. Suddenly Nico and Honoka (who had been sitting in the dugout despite not being in the club) were in her face, wishing her good luck and prematurely mourning her death.

"It was really nice knowing you, Rin-Chan. I'm gonna miss you," Honoka whimpered, actual tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry it has to end like this but can I just say, god damn, I'm glad it's you and not me. I'm too beautiful to die."

"Wait, guys I don't really have to go get it, do I?" Rin looked over at Umi with an expression that was pleading for mercy. "We have plenty of extra softballs. We don't need that one. Right…?"

Umi sighed. "You need to go get it, Rin. You have to apologize to the Art Club for disturbing them."

"I don't have to pay up for the bet if you're dead, right? Just clarifying."

* * *

The trek up the three flights of stairs to the art room was probably the most nerve-wracking thing Rin could ever recall doing in her fifteen years of life. Coming back from a four run deficit in the bottom of the last inning would probably be less terrifying to her than this. In her mind there was a pretty good chance that she could actually die. Her legs were shaking as they carried her up the final flight of stairs and around the corner; the art room was the first door at the top of the staircase.

She knocked sheepishly at the door. After a few moments of no reply, she started to knock again but missed as the door swung open suddenly, revealing a tall redhead who looked so angry that she could have very well exploded. Rin stopped her knocking motion in midair to avoid punching the girl in the chest and possibly causing a nuclear detonation.

"Hi, uh, I'm from the softball club," Rin began, forcing her best smile even though sweat was starting to bead on her forehead and she was clearly vibrating. Quite frankly, she looked like she was in pain. She was afraid of pain becoming an actuality for her in the near future. "I'm here to uh, get that ball that may or may not have, um, flown in here. I wonder how that happened, haha."

She spotted the ball laying on the ground in a splatter of cyan paint, next to an assortment of paint tubes and a container full of brushes that were scattered about. She assumed those all used to be on the table. Gulping, she suddenly ducked past the redhead, scrambling for the ball. Her sneakers slid across the paint puddle as she turned, trying to bolt back for the door, but she lost her balance, instead skidding into the table and knocking more containers off of it. She visibly cringed as art supplies clattered to the floor, paint dripping off the ball in her hand. The door slammed closed, and the furious redhead stomped over to her.

"I'm really sorry, I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry please don't murder me," she sputtered, waving her hands around apologetically and accidentally flinging paint off the ball onto the surrounding area. "I'll help clean this up. I'm really really sorry."

"...name."

"Huh?"

"What's your name?" the redhead asked forcefully, her voice obviously betraying her anger. Her reddened face and her body language also betrayed her anger. She was very clearly very angry.

"I-i-it's Rin. Hoshizora. We're in the same class?"

"Get out," the other girl said quietly. She didn't have to tell Rin twice. The ginger raced to the door, spewing more apologies all the way, even as she escaped down the stairs and around the corner.

* * *

Ckik here. It's the fanfic you've all (probably not) been waiting for! I started outlining this in November. It is now July. This is probably my biggest project yet.

There's not enough RinMaki content for my liking. I almost wish somebody else would write this instead. (Fun fact: Hanayo wasn't originally intended to be in this, but I put her in at my proofreader's insistence because she fucking loves Hanayo)

The working title has been "Perimeter" since I started on it, simply because I didn't want to think of a real title. The current title took me hours to think of.

Comments, Questions, Concerns? Mail in a postcard and I'll be back to you within 8 to 10 business days. See you next week.


	2. Must Come Down

"Can you guys believe that game last night? It was _soooo_ close, I can't believe we came back," Rin said, chowing down on her daily bento. Lunch break had started a few minutes ago and, like always, Honoka had burst into the room as though she didn't have other friends to eat lunch with. Hanayo joined them this time, pulling up a seat next to the two energetic gingers, munching contentedly on a rice ball while she listened to them talk about sports.

"I mean, it wasn't _that_ close. Plus, I don't think we could lose with you on the team," Honoka laughed.

"I thought you guys did great. I even got some great pictures of the team for the school newspaper," Hanayo spoke up over the top of her rice ball.

Rin scratched bashfully at the back of her neck. "Aw, you guys are too nice, really. We couldn't have won without the whole team. And besides, we-"

The door slammed shut suddenly behind them, causing all three of the girls to jump a little in surprise. Though they silently agreed that they all knew exactly who had just left, Honoka craned her head to peer out the window into the hallway. She caught violet eyes narrowed at Rin before they looked up at her and then looked away as the redhead stomped out of view. Honoka turned back around to glance at Hanayo, who nodded in response. They both abruptly looked at Rin, who had been nonchalantly sipping from a juice box, startling her a little with their weird synchronization.

"Nya?"

"Hey, Rin-chan, you know, uh-" Hanayo began, searching for the words to explain the situation until Honoka continued for her.

"You know that Nishikino girl was glaring at you while she was leaving, right?"

Rin nearly spit her juice out. She gulped, looking back and forth between her friends with a confused smile on her face. "She what?"

"Yeah, actually she glares at you every day when she leaves. And also while she's not leaving, as in when she's still here," Honoka explained.

"It's not even just that, she does it a lot during class too," Hanayo added. "She has for a couple of weeks, now."

"Haha, no way guys, come on. If she really was staring at me I think I would have noticed," Rin waved her hand dismissively.

Hanayo and Honoka glanced at each other briefly. Hanayo spoke up first. "Well, no offense or anything Rin-chan, but… you aren't really the most observant."

"Yeah, I don't know who Noah Fence is, but you can be kinda spacey. You even forgot that we were switching back to the Winter uniforms today!"

"Are you serious?" Rin took that moment to look around the classroom and just now, despite the school day being half over, realized that all of the other girls were wearing nicely pressed navy blazers. She suddenly felt very conscious of the short sleeved shirt she had on. Folding her arms on her desk and laying her head in them sadly, she let out a dejected whine. She moped briefly before letting the temporary distraction fall away again. Lips pursed in a confused pout, she asked, "Why was Nishikino glaring at me? Do you think she's still mad about the softball thing? That was so long ago…"

"Softball thing?" Hanayo perked up, her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Did something happen between you two?"

"You mean Rin-chan didn't tell you?" Honoka gasped, before unleashing a giant grin, a classic sign of incoming Honoka mischief.

"I didn't tell her cause it's dumb and embarrassing!" Rin protested, waving her arms in the upperclassman's direction in a sad attempt to deter her from continuing to speak, but Honoka was already recounting the tale while Hanayo sat at the edge of her seat, always excited for literally any available gossip.

"So we were at practice, right? And then-"

* * *

For the remainder of the afternoon, Rin was almost painfully aware of Maki's glare. She felt like she had done something wrong, but couldn't for the life of her figure out what, and the knowledge that she had a pair of eyes constantly on her made her more conscious than usual of everything she did. Was it really the case that she was still mad about one little stray softball? Rin couldn't decide whether Maki seemed like the kind of person to hold a grudge or not, and oddly enough, she didn't particularly want to find out. She was finally awarded some amount of breathing room when the redhead abruptly left in the middle of their Japanese Literature class. Once again, the teacher didn't say a word about it.

Rin found herself bouncing her leg anxiously, impatient to leave. As soon as the final bell rang, she hastily packed up her things, eager to get outside and expend at least some of her pent up energy. Dashing across the room, she skidded to a stop in the aisle beside Hanayo's desk.

"I _still_ can't believe she told you; I _told_ her not to tell you," Rin sighed dramatically as she sat down on top of the desk in the row across from Hanayo's, restlessly adjusting the strap of her school bag over her shoulder.

"You know how Honoka can be. I won't post it on my blog, if that's what you're worried about," Hanayo gave her an apologetic smile as she packed away her numerous notebooks into her own bag a little too slowly for Rin's liking. "Although it _would_ make a great story…"

Rin let herself fall back onto the top of the desk, boredly blowing a stray lock of tangerine hair out of her face as she stared at the classroom ceiling.

Right on cue, almost as if she was summoned by mention of her unstoppable blabbermouth, Honoka trotted into the room, all smiles like usual. "Who's ready for some softball?"

"I am, I'm ready for softball!" Rin sat up so fast she almost sent herself flying off the desk. Hanayo giggled a little at Rin's sudden excitement, even though she had been bored out of her mind mere seconds ago. "We'll head over right after I walk Kayo-chin to Newspaper Club, right?"

"Yup yup yup," Honoka nodded. She was still nodding, an oblivious smile on her face, even as she failed to notice her friends' faces suddenly dropping. Rin stood up from her seat on top of the desk. Hanayo nervously gripped the strap of her school bag. From behind Honoka, somebody coughed.

The second year turned around and found herself under the harsh glare of a certain tall redhead. Startled, she scurried backwards from the doorway until she bumped into the wall on the opposite side of the classroom.

"Hoshizora. Art room," Maki said, her voice a low grumble, before turning on her heel and leaving. The trio stood in silence for a few moments, simply glancing back and forth between each other, before Rin's two friends crowded around her, gesturing and talking over each other worriedly.

"Rin-chan, you can't! You can't go! You could die!" Hanayo pleaded.

"But she might kill you if you don't go, too! Rest in peace, we promise to attend your funeral," Honoka sniffled, rubbing at her eyes. Rin couldn't tell if Honoka's blubbering was intended to be sarcastic or not.

"Guys please, I'm not gonna die. She managed to not kill me last time even though I totally expected her to, so I'm _at least_ ninety percent sure she won't kill me this time," Rin laughed, but she felt her pulse jump out of nervousness. Obviously the situation wasn't as life-threatening as her friends made it out to be, but she was still pretty scared nonetheless. The redhead had an incredibly intimidating aura, and just trying to approach her terrified Rin, even more so than dealing with strangers already did.

"What about the other fifteen percent, Rin-chan!?"

"Honoka-chan, it's uh, it's only ten-" Hanayo leaned over to whisper the correction to her.

"What about the other ten percent!?" She repeated, attempting to grab Rin's shoulder, but the shorter girl ducked away, hustling to the doorway.

"I'll be fine, really! Don't wait up for me," Rin said hastily, giving them a slight wave before disappearing down the hall.

"Good luck," Hanayo called after her weakly. "Don't die…"

"She's so gonna die."

"Oh, definitely."

* * *

Rin dragged her feet up the stairs to the third floor. Although she had been quick to escape the verbal bombardment from her friends, the thought of the conversation that was waiting for her at the top of the stairs terrified her. Had she done something to evoke Maki's wrath again? Given her rather bad understanding of social cues, she wasn't entirely sure that she hadn't done or said something out of line.

She shook off the negativity before she reached the top of the stairwell, managing to look surprisingly cheerful as she neared the art room door. It was open when she got there, and she peaked in quietly.

Sitting on a worn stool by the window sill, Maki gazed out the window with the same harsh look as earlier, eyebrows drawn slightly together and already slanted eyes narrowed even further. Despite her expression, she didn't seem angry. The setting was actually pretty peaceful. She let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a grunt, placing an unlit cigarette between her lips and fumbling in her skirt pocket. She pulled out a metal lighter and clicked it repeatedly, but it seemed to refuse to light. The girl cursed under her breath, and Rin suddenly realized how long she had been absently staring for.

Rin stepped into the room, clearing her throat a little to get Maki's attention, which it immediately did. Maki turned away from the window slightly, glancing at Rin from the corner of her eye before putting down the faulty lighter and unlit cigarette and standing up. Slowly, the redhead stepped away from the window, eyeing Rin up with a gaze that she could only describe as suffocating. Even as Maki approached her, Rin kept the cheerful smile on her face despite the fact that she was starting to feel seriously uncomfortable.

"Thought you'd take longer to get here," Maki said, standing directly in front of Rin, close enough to make her feel threatened but not quite so close as to be a violation of personal space. Rin was equal parts scared and amazed at how tall this girl was. (And they're in the same year? She could probably step on your scrawny ass, Rin.)

"Hoshizora," Maki said suddenly.

"Yes?" Rin managed to squeak out, and she tried not to visibly cringe at how tiny and frightened it came out as, almost like she'd convinced herself that she was anything but tiny and frightened. She nearly jumped back a few steps when Maki grabbed one of her hands, her grip almost too strong, clasping it between them with a determined look on her face.

"Model for me."

* * *

Ckik here. I'm exhausted.

Gays. Softball. Here, take them, they're for you.

This chapter is up A Little Early® because of Pokemon Go plans later today.

Please comment. I hunger.

See you again next Friday


	3. A Swing And A Miss

"Wait, what?" Rin asked, attempting to take a small step back but, with Maki's death grip on her hand, it's more than a little difficult to move very far. Maki took a step closer in response, and she was really starting to test the whole "personal space" thing. Rin was suddenly all too aware of how stuffy and hot the room was.

"I like your body. Let me draw you," said the taller girl. Rin almost thought she was joking: this was just too ridiculous to be a serious request, right? Despite that, everything about Maki, her tone, her expression, everything screamed of seriousness. Rin was blushing like hell, the shade of her face giving the shade of the other girl's hair a run for its money. That might have been the single gayest thing that's ever been said to her, which was especially impressive considering the company she kept. She was a weird mixture of confused, embarrassed, and scared, and it felt like an avalanche in her chest, rocking her and bringing everything crashing down with it.

She realized at that point that she hadn't given Maki any sort of reply, save for a bit of flustered blubbering. Maki's stare cleaved clean through her soul, like she was trying to pry Rin apart just by looking at her. Before Maki's expression could shift from determined to impatient, Rin nodded, looking away to distract herself from the crushing glare that Maki still has her pinned down with.

"Really? I can?" Maki asked, and when Rin dared to meet her eyes again she could have sworn they were twinkling. It was a look Rin could have almost described as happy if it weren't for the frown and furrowed eyebrows that accompanied it. "Come here after practice tomorrow," Maki instructed her. She was finally aware of how tightly she'd been holding Rin's hand between both of hers, and released it, moving back away from her a little, but Rin couldn't tell if it was because she was flustered or otherwise. Maki turned around, returning to her spot by the window and Rin, legs shaking just the tiniest bit, quietly excused herself from the room. For a long moment after closing the door, she simply stood in the empty hallway, taking a few deep breaths to make sure she was still alive.

As she turned to leave, the door was thrown open suddenly, Maki standing in the doorway. "And you can just call me Maki. See you, Rin," she said calmly before slamming the door shut again. Rin blinked a few times before her legs carried her across the hallway and down the stairs, her mind reeling with confusion as she tried to figure out exactly what just happened and what she had just agreed to.

She wasn't able to hit a single pitch at practice that afternoon.

* * *

Maki was sitting by the window, her usual spot, glaring down at a sketchbook in her lap as she scribbled in it, a burning cigarette between her lips and a light but obvious blush dusting her cheeks, when the only other member of the Art Club arrived. The door creaked open quietly, a tall blonde stepping into the room with a pleased smirk. The room was near silent, and strangely calm, the only sounds that could be heard being the chatter of sports clubs from outside and the scritch-scratch of a pencil on rough paper.

"From that look on your face, I take it you finally swallowed your pride and asked her," the girl said, chuckling as she closed the door behind her. Maki, who hadn't noticed her presence at first, now whipped around to face her, eyes narrowing further and blush intensifying.

"Eli..." Maki mumbled, placing her open sketchbook on the window sill and folding her arms, and then said, louder, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"You're hopeless," Eli gave her a sympathetic smile, unlocking a cabinet in the corner of the room and rummaging through it briefly. "What's the damage report? It couldn't have gone too badly."

"I told her I liked her body. I said that out loud," Maki explained, eyes fixed on the floor in front of her. "Fuck, she's probably terrified of me now. Probably thinks I'm a creepy weirdo."

"You're kidding, right? Really not pulling any punches today, I see." Eli laughed, pulling a packet of papers from the cabinet and placing them on the teacher's crowded desk in the front of the room, sliding other stacks of papers and various art supplies out of the way. "To her credit though, you are a bit of a creepy weirdo."

"Oh, thanks," Maki said sarcastically, huffing in annoyance. "I thought we were friends, Eli. Why are you trying to ruin my life?"

"You came to me for advice, remember? Oh, what'd you say? 'Eli, I'm having a gay crisis, I need your help since you're an experienced gay,' right?"

"I did _not_ say that!" Maki protested. She had absolutely said that.

"You know, for as long as I've known you, I didn't expect you to be the type to fall in love easily," Eli said, rolling up her shirt sleeves as she sat down. At that, Maki looked away, back down at her sketchbook, but didn't reply. "At least you'll get to work on your figure drawing like Sensei told you. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone," she said. "Besides, if you didn't talk to her now, do you think you would have gotten another chance?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. Please clap._

 _This was originally two chapters, but separately they were waaaay too short. Combining them still feels a little short, but the next chapter is longer to make up for it._

 _Tune in next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel._


	4. Rest In Pieces

It was bright and early on Thursday morning. The air was warm and foggy and the smell of dew clung to the grass and the trees, a few of which had already started to change color. Rin, miraculously wearing the correct uniform today, stepped into the entrance hall a little later in the morning than she had intended. The bell would definitely be ringing soon, and she figured her slightly more punctual friends were already there.

After changing to her indoor slippers, as she placed her outdoor shoes into her third row locker, a flash of orange and navy zoomed into her peripheral vision, tackling her in a bear hug that nearly brought them both crashing to the ground.

"Honoka-chan!" Rin said, surprised but cheerful, returning the hug after making sure they were both entirely upright. "Why are we hugging?"

"I told Hanayo-chan that you were still alive 'cause I saw you at practice yesterday, but she won't believe me!" Honoka exclaimed, sounding way too concerned. Not even a full second later, Hanayo walked through the door, her gaze cast down sadly, mourning the loss of her friend Rin.

"Kayo-chin!" Rin called, squirming out of Honoka's crushing hug and dashing over to her classmate. Hanayo instantly teared up, her glasses covered in the light fog from outside and causing Rin to look slightly ethereal. Almost like a ghost.

"I can't believe Rin-chan is dead…," she sniffled, waving her hands in front of her to shoo Rin's restless spirit, hitting Rin softly in the face several times.

"Kayo-chin, look! I'm not dead!" she insisted, but Hanayo's only reply was continued sniffling and sad, gentle face slapping.

"So what happened yesterday? Why did Ms. Scarypants wanna talk to you?" Honoka asked, her school bag slung lazily over her shoulder as she walked with Rin and Hanayo to the first year classrooms.

"Scary… pants?" Hanayo mumbled to herself. "Our uniform doesn't even have pants…"

"It was nothing important, really," Rin replied, grinning nervously and hoping that her vague answer would shut down this particular topic of the conversation. It didn't.

"Did she beat you up? Did she kill you? Oh my god, Rin-chan are you actually dead?"

"Wait, Rin-chan is dead?" Hanayo squeaked. "But if she's walking with us, that means Rin-chan is…"

"A zombie!" Honoka gasped.

"I'm not! And anyway, she didn't beat me up. She just…," Rin hesitated. "Wanted to talk, I guess?"

Rin suddenly wondered why she was trying so hard to keep the information out of their hands. Wouldn't it be easier just to tell them about her arrangement with Maki? Was it because she thought that telling her friends that she was an art model for the scariest girl in school was just too embarrassing? Rin found that she was unable to understand even her own feelings, which was neither a new or unusual occurrence for her.

With Rin deep in thought, Honoka and Hanayo were having their own little conversation about the daily gossip when the sound of the homeroom bell suddenly filled the hallway. The three girls looked at each other with wide eyes before they all took off running, Honoka turning around and bolting for the stairwell that they had already passed by. Hanayo and Rin dashed the remaining distance down the hall to their homeroom, tearing past the only other student in the hall.

Rin turned her head and she swore she could feel time slow down, a heavy weight on her shoulders as she met the amethyst eyes of a certain grouchy redhead. Distracted, she barreled into Hanayo, who had skidded to a stop to open the classroom door, almost knocking her over. The pair scrambled into the room, with Maki power-walking in shortly after them.

All three of them got yelled at by their homeroom teacher.

* * *

Rin wiped the sweat off her forehead, heaving out a satisfied sigh. It had been a hard but rewarding practice. The sun beat down on the practice field, a stark contrast to the foggy warmth of earlier that day. Somehow, the heat didn't bother her. In fact, she enjoyed it; running around under the sun made her feel like nothing else in the world mattered. The rest of the team shuffled to the locker room, but Rin remained in the sunlight for a little longer, hustling over to the dugout to grab her mitt.

Before she could turn around and head for the locker room, Honoka intercepted her like a fly ball clanging against a fence, abrupt and loud.

"Rin-chan! Are you busy later? Me and Nico are gonna go to the arcade!" the upperclassman said, hands shoved in the front pocket of a blue sweatshirt that said "Otonokizaka Softball #1 Fan" on the front in big white block letters.

"Nya? Uh, actually I can't," Rin said hastily. Making up an excuse on the spot, she continued, "I have to do homework?"

"Aw, no way," Honoka frowned. "You never do homework, liar! Just come with us, it'll be fun!"

"Sorry, can't, gotta go, bye!" she replied, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she ran for the safety of the locker room. Honoka huffed in protest as she jogged after the smaller girl, only to be stopped by the strong arm that shot out between her and the door suddenly, nearly clotheslining her.

"Honoka, team members only in the locker room, please. You know the rules," Umi said, her voice stern and warning. Rin peeked out from behind the door to stick her tongue out mockingly at Honoka. Umi turned to face the ashen-haired girl she had been talking to before Honoka had literally plowed into the conversation. "Likewise, I can't allow you in either, especially with that camera."

"Even if it's for the newspaper?" the girl chirped, tilting her head to the side innocently.

"Precisely because of that! Do you know how shameless that is?"

* * *

Feeling refreshed after changing back out of her grass-stained softball uniform, Rin began her jog up the stairs to the third floor. Halfway up the last stairwell, unpleasant nervousness hit her all at once like a tidal wave crashing into her, scattering her thoughts like driftwood. She slowed to a stop at the top of the stairs, anxiety drowning her and burning her up all at once.

The art room door creaked open, catching Rin's attention, and a tall girl with golden hair and a third year ribbon stepped out. She closed the door quietly, but her movements halted when she saw Rin standing at the end of the hall with the blank stare of a cross-eyed kitten. Rin recognized her, definitely, but she couldn't seem to remember her name (Rin couldn't remember most names). The mysterious upperclassman approached her slowly, looking her over once, scrutinizingly, before she chuckled and breezed past Rin, disappearing down the stairs.

Rin shook her head, trying to shed the weird bubbly nervousness that was flooding her. She marched the several feet to the art room door and stood for a few moments, running fingers through her hair, adjusting her blazer, flattening her skirt by running her hands down it; doing anything to distract herself from how afraid she was of the girl waiting behind that door for her. She thought, just briefly, that maybe it would be better for her to just ditch this whole situation, flee the building as fast as she could, skip town, switch schools, change her name.

She pushed the door open quietly without knocking, wrinkling her nose at the strong smell of paint thinner and glancing immediately to the stool by the window where she assumed Maki would be sitting, but wasn't. After a few seconds, her eyes finally found the girl, blouse sleeves rolled and pushed up past her elbows, mane of red hair pulled into a small, loose bun on the back of her head, sitting on a stool before an upright canvas in the corner of the room. She had a dirty apron draped over the front of her uniform shirt and a paint-covered palette in one hand, a paint knife in the other.

Maki's face was focused, her lips pursed ever so slightly in concentration as she scraped and dragged the knife across the canvas. A few patchy areas of it were still left blank and colorless, the sketch still visible, while others were detailed, bursting with color. Rin saw water and bricks and bright lights decorating it, coming to life, but couldn't figure out what it was. She found her eyes darting from the painting to the redhead that stood before it, and for a second she wondered which one she liked looking at more.

Rin was unaware of the fact that she had been staring until she saw the other girl lean over in a violent fit of coughing, dropping the palette knife to the floor and bringing her hand up to cover her face, a pained look obvious on it. Rin almost rushed over to her, but before she could take more than three steps Maki stood up abruptly and faced Rin, one balled up fist covering her mouth.

"You're here," Maki said simply, like nothing had happened just then. Rin, dumbstruck, nodded. Maki set the dirty glass palette down on a nearby stand that also held a cup of dirty water, several tubes of paint and a container of oil, and shuffled to the sink in the opposite side of the room. Scrubbing paint off her hands and arms, she glanced at Rin from the corner of her eye. "Sit down."

Rin looked around for a moment until Maki sighed, and pointed her to a stained and graffitied desk at the front of the room. Cautiously, Rin walked over, looking to Maki for further instruction. "And take your jacket off," Maki said, sighing again as she dried her hands on her apron and then carefully removed it.

Rin did so wordlessly, folding her jacket over the back of a nearby chair and sitting down on top of the desk, knees pressed together, her feet dangling a few inches above the floor, hands in her lap. She could only imagine that she looked about as awkward as she felt. Maki dragged the stool over from the window and sat down in front and slightly to the left of her, sketchbook in hand.

Rin could feel Maki's eyes on her, glaring straight through her, deconstructing her. "Put your left hand on the desk. Lean your weight on it and look that way," Maki said, pointing to the windows, and Rin did so, drumming get fingers on the desk restlessly. She felt more than a little self conscious.

Maki began sketching, the sound of the pencil on paper the only other sound Rin could hear besides the sound of her own breathing. She gazed out the window for a while until she found her eyes wandering over to the canvas in the corner, admiring it. Without thinking, she blurted out, "What's that painting of?"

Maki hesitates for a moment, her own gaze snapping over to the painting. "A memory."

"Of what?" Rin asked, looking back over at the artist.

"A festival. From where I used to live," she explained, in as few words as possible.

"Uh, it looks really nice," Rin said, kicking her legs a bit. How much longer did she have to sit still?

"It's not done yet"

Well, Rin was able to figure that much out on her own just by looking at it. They sat in relative silence for a while longer, with Maki occasionally grumbling and erasing marks on the paper. The pencil in her hand stopped moving suddenly and she flipped the sketchbook closed, standing up.

"That's all," she said, looking at Rin. The ginger hopped off the desk, grabbing her blazer and shrugging it on. She made a beeline for the door. "And... come by again tomorrow," Maki added just before Rin could make it out the door.

* * *

 _Ckik here. In my notes on AO3 I pointed out that this reads better chapter-by-chapter, but I don't have to do that here because it's like that by default. So congratulations, you get a special edition version of these authors notes where I talk about something else. It's noon and I just woke up._

 _This Big Bang is soon, so I might get a little distracted, but chapters will still be up every Friday. Promise._

 _What will happen? Find out next time on Dragon (Base)Ball Z_


	5. Foul Ball

Rin's warm Friday morning had been mostly free of disturbances thus far, right up to the moment she entered the school building.

"Hey Miss Homework, how was that homework that you definitely didn't do?" Honoka asked playfully as she sidled up to Rin, as though she had been waiting for her there. Rin laughed and waved her off, changing out of her outdoor shoes. Honoka leaned closer to her with a loud "Hmmmmm?"

Rin shoved her shoes in the locker and closed it, jogging off without answering before Honoka could start talking again.

"What were you reeeaally doing, Rin-chan?" she called after the short-haired girl as she followed after her down the hallway.

"None of your busineeesss," Rin said as she stepped into her classroom, shutting the door before Honoka could follow her in.

* * *

It was a sunny, warm morning, perfect for enjoying a lovely gym class outside.

"Rin-chan!" Honoka suddenly shouted from out of her classroom's windows at the first year who was simply trying to have a good time participating in class activities. "Why'd you disappear, you liiiaaar!"

Several of Rin's classmates looked over at her, confused. She went about jogging around the track even faster, breezing past a heavily panting Hanayo and completely ignoring Honoka as though she wasn't yelling at her from a second floor window. Even though she was.

* * *

The lunch bell had rung a maximum of ten seconds ago when Honoka suddenly popped up on the other side of the window to the hallway. Rin watched her, eyebrows raised, as the upperclassman slinked sideways to the door, her suspiciously narrowed eyes never leaving Rin. When she reached the door, she leapt through it like a breaching whale and dashed for Rin's desk, slamming her hands down on it and she slid her butt into the seat in front of Rin.

"Where were you on the night of yesterday after practice?" Honoka asked, faking a gravelly police interrogator's voice. Rin laughed loudly in response, which made Honoka crack a smile at her own dumb joke. "Seriously, you're acting super weird. Did you have a secret rendezvous with some mystery person? I can't believe that Rin-chan has a secret lover and she didn't even tell me! What would Hanayo-chan think?"

Rin laughed again, nervously this time. She brushed off the ridiculous idea, even though it was the tiniest bit true. "Are you serious? It was nothing important, really, I just-"

Without warning, who else sat down quietly at the desk next to Rin's but one Maki Nishikino. Honoka's eyes widened, glancing wildly between the two first years in confusion. Rin shrugged, just as confused and a little bit panicked. Maki proceeded to not say a word for the entire duration of the lunch period.

When the bell finally rang after half an hour of silent, awkward eating and Honoka trying to play charades with Rin to get answers, Maki stood up, looking Rin dead in the eyes with her usual grouchy glare. "See you after practice, Rin," she said before turning and walking swiftly out of the room.

"She… what?" Honoka mumbled, staring at the doorway in confusion for a few seconds. Suddenly, she turned towards Rin and stood up, slamming her hands on Rin's desk for the second time in less than an hour. "It really was a secret rendezvous? With her!? Is she blackmailing you? Oh my God, Rin-chan, I have to save you from her evil clutches before it's too late!"

Rin leaned back in her seat, away from the yelling upperclassman, her hands up defensively. "It's not anything like that! She was just… helping me study? And her clutches aren't evil! I don't know if she even has clutches! What are clutches?"

Just as Honoka opened her mouth to let more nonsense spill from it, a knock on the window beside them caught both of their attention. In the hallway stood Umi, arms crossed, glancing between Honoka and the clock on the classroom wall. Honoka's face went pale, and she ran clumsily for the door, knocking books off desks as she made her escape. Rin mouthed a "thank you" to the dark-haired captain, who nodded before she took off running after Honoka. The bell rang again a few seconds later.

* * *

If Rin thought at any point that softball practice that afternoon would save her from an onslaught of questions from Honoka, she was really really wrong. For the first half of batting practice it was loud, obnoxious heckling, and after literally less than two minutes of standing at first, a catching glove hit her in the arm. Rin was mostly unfazed, but at seeing this, Umi stormed away from the pitcher's mound to give Honoka a stern talking to. Or, rather, a stern shouting at.

"Stop disrupting practice! We have a game to get ready for soon, and you're being a nuisance!" Umi yelled. When Rin glanced over her shoulder to watch, she expected Honoka to look embarrassed or apologetic, but the girl merely grinned and nodded at the annoyed captain. As Umi walked away with an exasperated sigh to head back over to the field, Honoka gave Rin a goofy smile and a thumbs up.

"Nico-chan is up, so it looks like I won't have to worry since she can't hit this far," Rin said to nobody in particular, intentionally way too loud. Smiling mischievously, she looked over at Nico, who growled in reply as she trudged over to home plate, dragging her bat across the dirt behind her. The ginger held back an amused snicker, glancing away and up at the school building. Her wandering gaze fell on one particular window on the third floor, and her eyes widened.

Maki was leant on the window sill, one hand lazily holding a lit cigarette inches from her face, purple eyes narrowed, staring down intently. She put the cigarette between her lips, drawing in a long breath before puffing out a cloud of thin smoke. Her eyes stayed glued to Rin, who was unable to look away even as she felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

Before Rin had time to react, a softball hit her weakly in the stomach like a sucker-punch from a six year-old. Nico sprinted past her at full speed. "Catch that, you fuck!" she said, flipping her off with both hands as she ran backwards to second base just so she could stick her tongue out mockingly at Rin. Her foot caught on the plate at second, causing her to stumble backwards and land on her butt in the dirt. The entire field fell quiet.

Umi, her face bright red in anger, almost to the point where Rin really thought steam was about to come out of her ears like some kind of fury teapot, stormed over to Nico to shout at her about proper conduct. Two lectures in one practice was pretty impressive. Rin tuned most of the shouting out, as it went on for several minutes, until she heard her own name being mentioned.

"Apologize to Rin immediately!"

"Sorry, idiot!" Nico called to Rin, her hands cupped around her mouth like a megaphone. Umi whacked her in the head with her mitt. "I mean, sorry Rin-chan."

Turning abruptly, Umi proceeded over to Rin with anger still very evident on her face. She stopped in front of the ginger girl and took a deep breath before beginning, "You need to pay attention during practice, please. This is unusual for you, but you need to understand that you're our best player, so we can't have you slacking off like this, even for a second," Umi explained, obviously trying not to blow up at Rin. Rin nodded, but her eyes found their way back up to the art room window, where Maki was still watching her and had, in fact, watched the whole scene transpire moments ago. Rin shivered.

"Are you listening to me?" Umi yelled, hitting Rin with her glove like it was a rolled up newspaper and Rin was a dog that had just tried to pull a steak off the kitchen counter. "You're literally not even paying attention to me telling you to pay attention! Are you serious? Is that how today is going to be?"

Three lectures in one day had to be a new record.

* * *

"Umi-chan really laid into us today, huh?" Honoka said, hands folded behind her head as she walked up to Rin, who was heading for the locker room.

"You always say 'us' and 'we' like you're on the team," Rin said, raising an eyebrow at her. "And you didn't exactly look upset about it."

"I like it when she yells at me. It's because she loves me," Honoka grinned.

Rin laughed. "You're kind of a weirdo, nya."

"So are you gonna disappear to go 'study' with Nishikino again today? And abandon me?" Honoka pouted. "You're sure she's not holding you hostage?"

Rin, in lieu of actually answering her, made a break for the locker room.

* * *

"Were you, um…," Rin began, her arms folded over the back of a chair at the front of the stuffy art room, blazer discarded on one of the many tables. Maki's eyes flicked impatiently back and forth between her and the half-completed sketch before her. Rin gulped. "Were you watching me at practice?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer, since it was really super obvious, but she was just confirming. For a moment, she couldn't actually tell if Maki had heard her or not until she realized first that the pencil in the redhead's hand had stopped moving, and then that the other girl appeared to be holding her breath. "Nishikino-san?"

Maki muttered something but it was too quiet to hear.

"What?"

"I told you to call me Maki," she said, louder this time, but still low.

"Maki-chan…?" Rin mumbles testingly, her voice soft. Rin doesn't see it, but the tips of Maki's ears go red and she makes a face like she's in pain, but not the physical kind.

"Yes. I was," she said.

"Nya?"

"You asked if I was watching you. I was," Maki said bluntly, flipping her sketchbook closed as she stood up. Rin, confused, followed suit, standing up and pulling the chair back over to the table she had gotten it from. She reached for her blazer as she walked slowly to the door, but stopped and stood awkwardly by it. She felt oddly like the conversation wasn't over, and couldn't bring herself to leave yet.

"When's your next game?" Maki, still standing by her stool with her sketchbook in her hands, facing the window, asked suddenly, surprising Rin.

"It's a week from Tuesday, I'm pretty sure. Uh… why?"

"I'll be there," Maki turned back around to face her. "Come here again next week, okay?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. I've barely started on next week's chapter and I'm_

 _So tired_


	6. Batter Up

Rin once again found herself staring out the window during her final class of the day, counting down the seconds until she'd get to leave for practice. When the bell finally rang after what felt like an eternity of switching back and forth between bouncing her leg and drumming her fingers on her desk, she let out a relieved sigh.

"Don't forget, tomorrow is a teacher in-service day, so there's no class for students," the teacher added before the students began to shuffle out of the classroom. Leaning back in her seat, Rin stretched her arms out in front of her.

"Hey," quietly accompanied a sudden tap on Rin's shoulder. She jumped slightly in surprise, twisting around in her seat to see who it was.

"Maki-chan," Rin said in disbelief, mostly to herself, though it was clear from the blush that was forming on Maki's face that she heard her.

"Don't forget. Art room."

"I'll be there," Rin said with a tiny, cat-like smile. Really, how could she forget at this point? After a solid week, it had become part of her routine. Maki blinked a few times, her eyebrows drawn together a little more than usual. She nodded once, red curls bouncing as she moved, and quickly and quietly left the room. Rin took another moment to stretch her arms up over her head before gathering up her things and weaving between the desks to the other side of the room where Hanayo sat. "Kayo-chin, hurry up, we gotta go."

"You can go ahead without me if I'm taking too long," Hanayo said as she cleaned her glasses off with a small cloth and repositioned back on her face carefully. Rin bounced up and down and waved one arm in the direction of the door in response, earning a small giggle from Hanayo as she packed away her schoolbooks. "Have you been spending a lot of time with Nishikino-san lately? I was surprised when she sat with us at lunch today, since she usually leaves during break."

Rin pouted, pondering what she should say as they exited the classroom and began their walk down the hallway to the Newspaper Clubroom. "It's a loooong story. I'd tell you, but Maki-chan might get mad, and then she might kill me."

"Ahhhh, wait, please don't die!" Hanayo squeaked. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me! Although it _would_ be great for my blog…"

Rin laughed a little at Hanayo's reaction, rushing a few feet ahead of her to look out the window by the stairwell. As she looked out onto the baseball field, she grinned, and it took all her self-control to not throw open the window and leap outside right then. Hanayo caught up quickly, squinting out the window alongside Rin for a few seconds, and then suddenly looking over at her in confusion.

"Where's Honoka-chan?" Hanayo asked.

"You only _just_ noticed that she's not here? And _I'm_ supposed to be the spacey one."

"She's usually with us, so I didn't even think about it," Hanayo admitted as they resumed their walk to the clubroom.

" _Well_ ," Rin began, hand cupping her own chin in a contemplative gesture. "I think she's walking to practice with Umi today. Like she isn't totally obvious."

"Obvious? About what?"

Rin shook her head, smiling like the smug little shit she is and said, "You'll understand when you're older, nya."

They turned a corner and there was their destination, the Newspaper Clubroom, right in front of them. "Rin-chan, you're only three months older then me," Hanayo frowned slightly, pushing open the door to the tiny room.

Rin had only been in the Newspaper Club's headquarters a few times since her friend joined, and it seemed more cramped and cluttered with papers every time she saw it. It was a small room, barely bigger than a storage closet, which it very well might have been before the newsies repurposed it, and it was ridiculously well lit, with at least three lamps in addition to the overhead lights and single window. Rin squinted a little at the brightness when the door creaked open to let Hanayo step in. The walls were covered in newspaper clippings, held up with masking tape, and an entire shelf that just held copies of past issues. The table was covered in photographs and papers like usual but, unlike usual, a chubby, dark-haired girl sat at the table, leant over a partially-dissected film camera with a tiny screwdriver in her hand. Another girl, tall with ash-blonde hair and a distraught frown on her face, stood beside her, wringing her hands worriedly.

"Kotori-senpai?" Hanayo squeaked, carefully stepping around stacks of blank newspaper and over various boxes to join the two girls at the table. "What happened?"

"I… _somehow_ damaged the camera the photography club loaned us," the tall girl, who was apparently named Kotori, said, her gaze lowered, looking just a little bit guilty. "It's not broken for real… right?"

The seated girl (a member of the photography club, Rin assumed) sat up, leaning back in her chair with a sigh and scratched her head. Rin noticed at that point that the girl was wearing a third-year ribbon. "Well, I can definitely fix it. Gonna take a while though," the girl said simply, her voice a relaxed drawl. "But… I don't exactly have another one for y'all to borrow at the moment. What'd you say happened to it, exactly?"

Kotori froze. She cracked a nervous smile and stammered out, "I um, I d-d-dropped it. Off a bridge. R-right off one. It was really sad." Her words blurred together into one long sentence. It was obvious to Rin that she was either super upset or super lying.

" _Right_ ," the upperclassman raised an eyebrow at her. "You sure somebody didn't smack it outta your little hands for trying to take inappropriate pictures of them or anything?"

Kotori stayed silent for a few moments, blinking rapidly as the color appeared to drain from her face. Suddenly, the senior let out a loud laugh, leaning back even further in her chair. "I'm kidding! But yeah, no pictures for y'all for a bit. Hope you'll be able to make due without it."

Hanayo, saddened by the news that the club would now have to operate indefinitely without a proper camera, waved a goodbye to Rin. Rin gave her a short wave and a forced grin before she stepped back and shut the door. Hustling further down the hall to the locker room, she chuckled, "Newspaper Club seems freakin' _weird_."

* * *

"Rin-chan! Hey!" Honoka shouted, running up to Rin after their particularly long and difficult practice that day. Stepping away from the group that was cleaning up their equipment, Rin wiped the sweat and dirt off her palms onto the sides of her striped uniform pants. She looked up at Honoka, who skidded to a stop next to her. "You're not gonna ditch our Arcade time again this week to hang out with Nishikino, are you?"

"About that…" Rin began, scratching the back of her head nonchalantly, or at least she was trying to seem nonchalant.

"Aw, seriously?" Honoka pouted. "But it's even a three day weekend! That's like, _the_ best time for Arcade time. And besides, you can't…" Honoka's voice dropped to what she must have thought was a whisper, even though it was only slightly less loud than her normal voice, "You can't leave me alone with Nico. She only ever wants to talk about Umi, and it's really weird. I think she likes her."

"No, idiot, _you_ like Umi!" Nico yelled from a base away. "You're projecting!"

"Yeah well, I don't even _own_ a projector! So shut up!" Honoka yelled back, stomping her foot in the dirt like an angry toddler. "Anyway," she continued, turning back to Rin and following her over to the dugout, "I thought Nishikino was done sitting with us at lunch, 'cause she didn't yesterday or the day before that, but she did it again today! Is she stalking you or something?"

"She's not stalking me!" Rin said, picking up a few strewn bats and putting them in a bag, which she pushed into Honoka's arms. "Maki-chan isn't actually that bad, she just-"

"Hold on, since when did you start calling her Maki?" Honoka asked, hefting the bag up by the strap and securing it over her shoulder. Rin halted halfway through bending over to pick up a stray mitt, slowly standing up. Honoka blinked, and suddenly Rin was halfway across the field. She had made a full-speed break for it once again. Whining, Honoka jogged sluggishly after her, slowed down by the weight of the heavy equipment bag. "Why does Rin-chan keep running from meeeeeee!?"

* * *

Rin stood, leaning up against the desk at the front of the room once again, watching curiously as Maki drew her. Today's pose proved to be a bit uncomfortable, and she could feel her arm starting to fall asleep from leaning so much of her weight on it. Ignoring it the best she could, Rin attempted to look off to the side at the painting, but found that it was hard to see from her current position without changing the whole pose. She decided against messing up Maki's sketch by moving; despite how used to all of this this she'd gotten, she was still a little afraid of Maki, after all. "So how's the painting goin'?"

Sighing, Maki sat up, leaning back a bit and glancing up and off to the side. "Haven't worked on it much. Oil paint takes a long time to dry, so…"

Rin nodded like she understood what Maki meant, even though she didn't know the first thing about art. She didn't even know you could paint with oil! A few short minutes later, Rin decided to try starting another conversation, less because she had anything to say and moreso to ease her own rising anxieties.

"I've really been coming here for a week, huh?" She didn't see Maki look away nervously as she continued on. "We don't really have a lot of conversations, even though I'm here so much. You're really not much of a talker, Maki-chan," she gave Maki a warm smile, but Maki remained silent. Her pencil had stopped moving a while ago, and she stared intently down at her sketchbook.

Rin's smile faltered a bit at the lack of a response, but she spoke up again shortly after. "You're still planning on coming to the game on Tuesday, right?"

"Of course!" Maki stood up abruptly, her sketchbook sliding off her lap and clattering to the floor. Rin jumped a bit at the display, the silence creating an awkwardness in the room. A bright blush quickly formed on Maki's face as she became aware of her outburst, sitting back down and clearing her throat loudly. "I mean… yeah. I'll be there, Rin."

* * *

 _Ckik here. It feels weird uploading this when it was actually only supposed to be the first half of a chapter, but whatever. I'm swamped with work right now._

 _Also I never write Nozomi with an accent, so that's a first._


	7. Tag-Up Or Die

"Rin-chan! Aren't you glad you decided to come to the arcade with us? I bet it was way more fun than-" Honoka shouted to Rin as she zoomed into the classroom during lunch break on Monday. As she sat down, she spotted Maki sitting silently with the other two first year girls. "Uh, nevermind."

"Yeah, it was fun," Rin laughed, and Maki looked over at her, eyebrows raised slightly in curiosity. At seeing this, Rin's expression brightened exponentially, and she began recounting her weekend to the redhead. "Okay, so we went to the arcade and Nico-chan won like five things from the claw machine! And then on Friday we did karaoke-"

Honoka and Hanayo exchanged looks as they watched on in confusion. ' _This is a total train wreck, right? Nishikino isn't saying anything,_ ' Honoka mouthed. Hanayo nodded, typing rapid notes on her phone beneath the desk. The lunch break passed without a single word from Maki while Rin chattered on happily beside her. Maki left moments before the bell rang, ditching yet another math class. Apparently she wasn't a huge fan of math. At seeing this, Honoka shoved the empty wrappers from her multiple pieces of melon bread into her bag, jetting out of the room as the bell began to sound. She gave Hanayo another look and a jerky nod as she disappeared out the door.

"Rin-chan," the brunette began quietly as she stood, pushing her glasses up. "Is Nishikino-san mad at you?"

Rin blinked up at her as she switched her empty bento box out for her heavy trigonometry textbook. "No, why would she be?"

"Well, it's just," she squeaked, glancing away. "She was being really quiet and she looked a little angry."

Rin waved her hand, leaning back in her chair nonchalantly. "That's just how Maki-chan is, actually. She's really shy, nya," she laughed.

Hanayo nodded and returned to her own desk on the other side of the room. She placed her textbook gently onto the desk, looking around briefly to make sure no one was watching. Quickly and stealthily, she whipped her phone out of her blazer pocket, ready to turn the notes she'd taken throughout the lunch period into a juicy blog entry.

* * *

After a relatively easy day of practice, Rin, freshly changed back into her school uniform, was headed up the stairs to the art room. After a long weekend, fun as it was, she found that she was looking forward to spending time with Maki. Rin had gotten used to the artist's presence, even considering them friends at this point. It was a routine she even ventured to say she enjoyed, although the feeling of somebody watching her intently and drawing her would never not be slightly unnerving.

She realized halfway up the final stairwell that she couldn't remember Maki telling her to come to the art room today, because she hadn't. Maki hadn't actually said much to her today at all aside from a mumbled "good morning" many long hours ago. Her steps slowed, and she wondered if perhaps Maki really _was_ mad at her? Her brain quickly ran through a scan of anything she could've done or said to conceivably make the artist angry with her. She couldn't come up with anything, and thus dismissed the idea. She approached the closed door, a feeling of dread washing over her as more anxieties starting bubbling up.

Somehow, Rin got the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here, that even standing outside the door was wrong. Maki was busy. She didn't want to see Rin. She didn't need to do this anymore. She found somebody else to model for her. The thoughts rose up and popped in Rin's mind, escaping like steam from the pot of boiling water that she felt like. What the heck was she even thinking about, what was she feeling? Why could she never even figure out her own damned feelings? She steeled herself and pushed the door open despite her better judgement.

The room, she found, was empty of people. Nobody. Her eyes flew first over to the canvas in the corner, uncovered and with more paint on it than she remembered. They landed second on the window sill, the stool sitting empty by it. Everything was there, the sketchbook, the pencil, the burnt out cigarette butts. The only thing missing was the redhead herself.

Rin approached the window quickly, like she was afraid of being caught in the room uninvited. She glanced out over the baseball field, and it was an utterly perfect view, better than a stadium press box. It was no wonder Maki liked this window so much; maybe she really liked watching baseball too, as opposed to simply watching Rin. Before Rin could stop herself, she was looking down at the pages of the sketchbook. It was open to a page that was entirely sketchy pictures of herself. What? It was hard to tell at first from the messy quickness of the lines, but the shaggy hair and a cleanly lined number nine on the uniform gave it away. There weren't many used pages from the look of it.

So she flipped a single page. And then another one. And then a couple more. Her eyes widened at what she saw. They were all drawings of her, some more polished than others, a few in poses she clearly recognized from the times she had voluntarily modeled. But further towards the start of the sketchbook, she saw herself in the summer uniform. She saw drawings of her back from two seats behind, a row over in class. Were there even ones with that awful haircut she had gotten in August? She would recognize that regrettable monstrosity anywhere; way too short even for her liking. She froze clutching the sketchbook, unable to look away and barely able to comprehend this flood of information.

Rin knew Maki had been watching her for some amount of time, but she never imagined it to have been for this long. There was no way this was really possible, right? She wasn't sure whether to find this a little creepy or not. Simultaneously flattered and uncomfortable, she blushed a little without realizing it.

The side door clicked and creaked open, a certain redhead emerging from the storage room. Rin looked over, the sketchbook slipping from her hands and landing on the art room floor, face down and open to one of the first few pages. Maki stood by the closed storage room door, sleeves rolled up, drying freshly-washed hands with a white rag. She placed the rag on the edge of the sink carefully and approached Rin slowly. Rin's felt her heart pounding against her chest like the waves of a tsunami, completely sure that it would burst out at any second.

Maki stopped a foot from the shaken ginger, but her stance didn't carry any anger. Rin was reminded of the first conversation they had ever had. Of her thoughts and her words and the overpowering feeling of fear, _fear_ , _**fear**_ , and she realized again how much Maki towered over her. She was sure, this time _really_ _**truly**_ sure, that Maki was going to kill her.

"I didn't tell you to come today," she said bluntly, and her face displayed no discernible hint of emotion, aside from a light blush that quickly started to form on her face. If Rin hadn't been feeling like she was about to die she might have thought about how cute that blush looked on the taller girl. Her awkwardness had become very endearing to Rin recently, and seeing that shy side through the intimidating exterior was a rare treat. Though that was the very last thing on her mind right now.

"Ah, I um, I forgot!" Rin stammered, letting out a painfully fake laugh to cover up the fact that she was terrified. She had been caught and she had no way out of it, but she definitely got that Maki had been caught too. Maybe they were even. Rin turned towards the door, making a halfhearted waving gesture at the redhead. "That was so dumb of me! Totally dumb, right? Okay, bye, I'll see myself out!"

Maki's hand shot out, grabbing Rin's wrist before she could take two steps towards the door, effectively stopping her. Maki let go immediately, her blush intensifying, but Rin didn't make any second attempt at leaving. They both stared intently at the suddenly very interesting floor, equally flustered and trying to piece coherent thoughts together in their heads.

Maki coughed loudly a few times, breaking the awkward silence. Rin reflexively reached a worried hand out, almost brushing against Maki's shoulder, before she pulled it back in embarrassment. Maki spoke up first, her voice low and a little unsteady. "I'm… sorry. That I was doing that without your permission. It wasn't on purpose at first. I just… kind of…," she paused, frowning deeply in genuine frustration for the first time Rin had ever seen. The redhead continued, "I don't know what I want to say."

Rin looked up at her, her own face scrunched up in concentration as she tried to put together what Maki was trying to say from her choppy, mumbled words. She decided to really put her hand on Maki's shoulder this time, hoping that the gesture would come off as reassuring and not make things even more awkward. "I sort of get it, I think, maybe. I'm not even mad or anything, I just thought that you would be mad at me, for snooping, ya know? I don't really know what I want to say either."

Maki nodded, avoiding Rin's eyes. Rin spoke up again before things started to get too quiet and weird again. "Maki-chan?"

Maki's eyes shot up again, looking unusually apologetic. Retracting her hand once again, Rin continued, "I'll see you at the game tomorrow, okay?" She retreated from the room before either of them could say another word.

* * *

Rin wandered through the hallways on the second floor, her thoughts in a puddle of goo that seemed like it would start seeping out through her pores if she didn't figure it all out. Normally she would go straight home after meeting with Maki, but she felt oddly like she had left the conversation before it was done. She wanted to know more but at the same time she couldn't bear to hear it.

All in all, she felt… _unsure_.

Unsure of her own feelings, which was nothing new. She wasn't sure if she was happy about proving her own suspicion wrong; Maki was only ever thinking about her, it seemed. She wouldn't be replaced, and if nothing else she knew that she felt wanted. But was she happy?

Unsure of Maki's feelings, but when did she ever understand those? Maki was so impossible to read the vast majority of the time, and when she did have any real reactions, Rin was hardly able to understand them. And more importantly, why had Maki wanted her to model for her when she was already drawing her in secret? It didn't make any sense. She couldn't add it up.

Unsure about their relationship! What even _was_ their relationship? If she didn't know her own feelings and she didn't know Maki's feelings, what even _were_ they to each other? Were they friends, or was it only Rin that thought that?

Rin couldn't figure it out, any of it, and she found herself walking up and down the long hallways of the school thinking about. She just couldn't think about anything thing else, and she just couldn't make herself leave.

A door opened to her right, one with a window painted over in layers of thick black paint: the Photography Clubroom? The sound startled Rin and she stopped. She stopped walking and she stopped thinking, her thoughts evaporating like they were never there in the first place.

A girl took a stumbling step out of the open door, the room behind her pitch dark. She had blonde hair in a ponytail that looked like she'd just been in one of the hurricane simulator boxes at the mall. She was in the process of buttoning up her shirt when she spotted Rin staring straight at her with a completely blank look on her face.

The blonde panicked, and Rin suddenly recognized her, raising a hand to point at her obliviously. "You're-"

"Elichi, what's-" a voice came from behind her shoulder, followed by a lot of rustling and the sound of a box falling over. Eli scrambled backwards, followed by muffled shushing and mumbled words and more things falling over. Eli continued staring at Rin, who stared at her. Nothing was said for a solid ten seconds.

Rin turned on her heel, doing a complete 180 and powerwalking in the direction she had come from. Eli sighed, audible from where Rin was, now halfway down the hall.

"I've seen something I wasn't supposed to see, nya."

* * *

Ckik here. We're finally getting to the good part. I hope you took a good long look at that "Slow Burn" tag because you're officially in for the long hall.

I'm apologizing in advance for next week's chapter. You'll know what I mean. See you then.


	8. One For The Money

_Some info going forward:_

 _Softballs are neon yellow, not white. And Rin is left handed. I probably should've mentioned those two things earlier._

* * *

Rin hummed to herself quietly as she walked down the hallway towards the locker room. It was Tuesday afternoon, right after school, and the hours were ticking away until the upcoming game. Rin was nervous, to say the least, and not just because of the game. Maki hadn't spoken to her all day. As a matter of fact, Rin had barely even _seen_ the grouchy redhead at all today; she had skipped homeroom, and every class except History and Japanese Literature. She hadn't sat with Rin and Hanayo during lunch break, and she had disappeared as soon as class was over.

Needless to say, Rin wasn't exactly happy about it.

About halfway to the locker room, Honoka leapt out from behind the nearest stairwell and tackled her, picking Rin up and hoisting her over one shoulder like a tiny ginger sack of potatoes.

"Oh, hey Honoka-chan," Rin said casually despite having been lifted into the air without warning.

"This is gonna be a pretty big game, huh? Probably our biggest one yet!" Honoka said proudly, marching down to hall with Rin in tow. Rin imagined it must have been quite a sight to behold.

Rin laughed. "Every game is our biggest game yet, that's how the league works. And you're not even on the team."

"You sound a little worried," Honoka said, placing Rin back on the ground as they approached the door to the gymnasium. "Jeez, you look worried, too. We'll do fine, our team is the best!"

"It's not that," Rin said with downcast eyes, pushing the heavy gym door open. "Something kinda weird happened with Maki-chan yesterday and I can't really talk about it, but she said she'd be at the game tonight. But we also didn't talk at all today and I guess I'm kinda anxious about it."

"You're kinda anxious about everything, Rin-chan, it's just how you do," Honoka gave her a reassuring pat on the back, jogging ahead a little as they walked across the empty gym, their steps echoing through the room. "It'll go fine, probably. You two are friends and all that junk, right?"

"I guess we are." The pair arrived at the locker room a little earlier than anticipated. Upon peaking in, it looked like the team captain wasn't there yet. Rin beckoned Honoka to follow her in. "You can totally come in, dude. Umi-chan can't say anything if she's not here."

"Nah, I'll wait for you guys out here," Honoka said, leaning up against the wall beside the door.

"She's so strict about everything. She was never this serious about it when we were in JV. It's kinda weird," Rin followed suit and leaned against the gym wall on the other side of the doorway.

Honoka giggled. "I get why she's like that now though. Her dad used to play baseball in the big leagues when we were kids, ya know. He had to retire a few years ago 'cause he got hurt; I still remember the look on Umi-chan's face when she heard. After that Umi-chan said she'd join the major leagues to 'keep the Sonoda legacy alive' or something like that," Honoka explained, a small nostalgic smile on her face. "She works her butt off 'cause she wants to make it _so_ bad. I feel kinda bad for her though, since I don't think they'd ever let a girl in the major leagues, even if she's better than any guy in the country. Which she is, by a longshot."

It was the first Rin had heard of any of this. She wasn't nearly as close with Umi as she was with Honoka, despite them having all gone to the same middle school. Rin stared at Honoka while she talked; at the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eyes, and the way she seemed to not be able to think about anything else. "You really love Umi-chan, huh?"

"Of course!" Honoka looked offended, like Rin should have known that already. Which, in her defense, she had. "A whole lot. She loves me, too, she just doesn't know it yet."

Just as Honoka trailed off, the gym door swung open, followed by Umi walking in coolly, like she always did. She greeted the pair of gingers with a small wave as she approached, her face stoic as usual. "Are you ready for the game, Rin?"

"Uh, not really," Rin laughed, scratching the back of her head. "I'm pretty nervous, actually."

"Well you had better be ready by the time we're out there," she said, glancing briefly at Honoka, and then at the locker room door, before pushing the door open and disappearing into the room.

"Gotta love it when she plays hard to get," Honoka muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for Rin to hear, eliciting a chortle from the first-year. Honoka cracked another smile and waved Rin towards the door beside them. "Good luck, buddy. I'll see you on the other side."

* * *

Rin quickly found her way to her locker in the sparsely filled room, the sounds of feet, clothes, and bags of equipment echoing off the tiled floor. She stood two lockers to the left of Nico as she proceeded to change. Nico seemed… distracted. The petite girl's uniform pants were on backwards and she only had one sleeve of her pastel pink under armour shirt on. Rin leaned over in what she thought was a subtle manner, but in reality she probably looked like a toppled jenga tower. She spied a small compact mirror in Nico hands, pointed at Umi who had her back turned and was undressing at her own locker a few feet behind them.

"Nico-chan, your gay is showing," Rin whispered, looking much like a crooked photograph of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Nico, startled, almost decked Rin in the face, but the agile underclassman was able to duck out of the way just fast enough.

Nico scowled, donning the rest of her uniform in a matter of seconds and sitting down on the nearby bench, arms crossed. She proceeded to completely ignore Rin for the next five minutes. Rin, now changed into her own white and blue uniform, sat down next to the frowning third-year just as Umi walked out of earshot.

"You're a little bit of a pervert, nya," Rin whispered, leaning forward in her seat and ducking her head down to try and catch Nico's glare.

"I was just admiring her physique. Because of her skills a player, and definitely not because she has a fantastic ass," Nico whispered in reply, sitting up and turning her head away from Rin.

"So you really do have a crush on Umi-taichou?" Rin asked, tilting her head curiously.

Nico whipped back around to scoff at Rin directly. "Are you stupid? Half the girls in this locker room have a crush on Umi. we wouldn't even have a full team right now if she wasn't such a bombshell, that's how many of us joined just for her. I wasn't even in this club my first year here. I did track. Hell, I'd still be doing track if it wasn't for Umi being super hot, and I'm indispensable, so I guess you could say she was _kind_ of a blessing."

Rin nodded even though she didn't really get what Nico was trying to say. "By the way, your pants are still on backwards."

Shrieking, Nico jumped up to quickly fix her oversight, nearly tripping three separate times as she hopped around in what was probably the least effective donning of a pair of pants Rin had ever seen.

The super hot blessing in question returned once again, having gathered up the other five girls. "What was that noise?"

"Rin hit me," Nico lied, her face flushed but otherwise completely blank, sitting down on the bench next to Rin.

"I did not! Nico-chan is a liar," Rin pouted.

"Right, anyway," Umi began, standing at the front of the room, hands clasped behind her back like she was about to give a professional report. Clearing her throat, she began her traditional pre-game pep talk. "We're finally playing the national quarterfinal today, girls. We've been practicing all summer to compete in the fall series, and this is just the next step. We haven't lost a single game yet, and I couldn't be more proud. Every one of you is strong and capable of doing anything you put your minds to," she looked out over the group, her voice's volume rising as she continued, "and I know for a _fact_ that you all want this national title just as much as I do. So we need to take the sum of our efforts and put them out on the field tonight. Two more games and we _will_ be champions! Let's go play some softball!"

* * *

The first inning had gone more smoothly than anticipated, but the game was far from over. Though it was technically their home field, it was shared by other schools so they were actually playing it as an away game this time around. Otonokizaka's team had managed to keep the other girls from scoring any runs on their half thanks to some fantastic catching and a slew of fastballs from Umi. During the second half, Nico had managed to score a run after stealing 3rd on one of Rin's hits, which was one of the basic staples of their strategy.

The game was proving to be an intense one already; the other team was good, and it was no wonder they were facing them in the qualifier, but they weren't too good to beat into the dirt. Even so, Rin, with all of her nervousness, didn't dare glance at the crowd in the bleachers to look for the redhead as the innings flew past. Up until the very last inning, the teams were exactly tied with two runs each.

They headed out onto the field as the inning started, Rin made for her spot on first base like usual. Between Nico and herself, they certainly had their work cut out for them due to the fact that they had no second baseman. She gave Nico a nod, and Nico grinned in response, punching a fist into her mitt.

"Play ball!" the umpire yelled. The first girl up for the batting team had a huge forehead and, Rin learned shortly after the first pitch loosed, a very powerful swing. The ball zoomed over Rin's head at full speed, nearly taking her hat off as she ducked. It finally landed against the fence on the other side of the foul line. She stared wide-eyed at the ball, which almost looked like there was steam rolling off of it, as the right fielder jogged over to retrieve it. Umi shook her head.

The second pitch was a regular strike, but the third pitch went foul again, over the left field foul line this time. Even from where she was standing, Rin could see Umi's eyebrows furrow. It didn't take long to catch on to the other team's strategy; by batting "accidental" fouls, they were forcing up the number of pitches Umi had to throw, with each one getting easier to hit. Obviously, they were trying to tire her out and use it to their advantage.

Rin grumbled as the batter hit yet another foul ball, which was so bad it almost hit the dugout. The fifth pitch finally went fair, bouncing between second and third, Nico narrowly managing to dodge a softball to the face. The batter-runner ran for first, but it was more like a fast stroll, oozing with so much arrogance that Rin couldn't stand to look at her. Nico scrambled after the ball, scooping it up in her mitt and beaning it at Rin, but the runner was already safe.

The second girl to bat struck out immediately, but every pitch had been dangerously close to connecting. Every time she saw Umi's entire form heave from how hard she was breathing, Rin got a little more scared. Their team didn't have a relief pitcher, and Umi was doing everything she could, but what if it wasn't enough?

The next girl was at bat, and Rin could see even from here that she was batting with a cross-handed grip, her hands in reversed positions on the bat; batting right-handed but with a leftie grip, she was clearly a switch hitter. If she got a hit, it would be headed towards Nico's direction, into left field. The first pitch Umi threw was slow enough for a 5th grader to hit, but the batter didn't swing, letting the ball fly into the catcher's mitt instead. The second pitch was faster, but only by a little, and she let that one strike as well.

The runner on first base started chuckling suddenly. Rin's blood boiled, realizing that all of this had just been to mock them. She saw something snap in Umi as she loosed a third pitch, the fastest one yet, but it was unusually reckless. The batter smirked as the bat connected with the ball, sending it flying towards second, feet from Nico.

Feet from Nico. Nico, who happened to be so busy soaking up attention from the Otonokizaka Softball Fanclub that sat in the bleachers, that she didn't even notice the ball, letting it roll past her into left field. The left fielder streaked past her, running for the ball as the first runner zoomed past Nico and straight to home. The left fielder finally managed to grab the ball, lobbing it towards Rin, who scrambled to second base. The batter-runner made it first, sticking her tongue out at Rin mockingly. Rin squinted at her, tossing the ball to Umi.

They were down a run now, but they still had a chance, barring anymore careless mistakes. Rin didn't even want to think about all of the many mistakes that could be made in the next twenty seconds, scared to death of jinxing it. The next batter was up, and the very first pitch connected, a line drive that flew over the empty first base, where Rin would have been standing if she hadn't been keeping an eye on second base to prevent a steal. The runner took off, winking at Rin as she ran for third.

Cursing under her breath, Rin made the split second decision to abandon second base, flying at full speed for the ball while it was still airborne; the girl running from second was far slower than the batter-runner, and likewise Rin was faster than the right fielder.

She dove, sliding for the ball and catching it while it in its flight for the second out of the top half of the inning. She turned on her knee, pivoting and throwing the ball towards their third baseman, who caught it and tagged the base.

"Third out! Change!"

Rin sighed, falling backwards into the grass, sweat drenching her forehead and causing her bangs to stick to it messily. An offered hand popped into view and she took it, being helped to her feet by an exhausted-looking Umi.

"Don't relax just yet. This isn't over," Umi said as she walked to the dugout with Rin.

The ginger grabbed for her water bottle, pulling off her hat by the brim and pouring a decent amount of water on her own face. She received a pat on the back from Nico, who had an extremely guilty look in her eyes. Every girl in the dugout was glaring at Nico for her earlier fuck-up; they could very easily lose the game in this upcoming final half if they weren't careful.

"You were perfect out there, Rin-chan," Nico muttered, and if Rin were a little less naive she would have been able to hear the hurt and the jealousy that managed to squeeze their way into the compliment. Rin nodded, sitting down and wiping the sweat and dirt and water from her face while she waited for her turn at bat.

Umi was up first, as their usual eighth and last girl in the batting order, which worried Rin a lot. Umi was last for a very good reason. She was their worst hitter, with poor timing and exceptionally bad aim, and it didn't help that she looked absolutely beat. There was nothing they could do with a team of so few girls, no way they could have a designated hitter to take Umi's place.

So when Rin saw the pitch connect with the loud crack of aluminum against cork and leather, it was like witnessing a miracle. The ball landed in center field as Umi took off for first base. _Somebody_ in the stands cheered _very_ loudly the whole time. Even from the dugout, Rin could see the small smile on Umi's face as she glanced out into the crowd, then at the ground bashfully.

"Strike three! Batter out!" yelled the ump. Rin realized then that she somehow didn't even see their lead-off hitter, the girl who played catcher, strike out in literally seconds.

With one out and a runner on first, Nico was up to bat. As their second in the lineup, she wasn't a particularly powerful hitter, but she was a fantastic bunter and their fastest runner. And bunt she did indeed, rolling the ball to the pitcher's left and taking off, reaching first in the blink of an eye; she had been almost fast enough to high five Umi as she ran for second, but Umi wouldn't have high fived her anyway.

Rin moved up to the on deck circle, the girl before her moving up to the plate. The aforementioned batter proceeded to hit what was probably the cleanest pop fly Rin had ever seen. The ball was so high in the air she wasn't sure that the fielding team could actually even see it. Nico had already advanced for a steal before the pitch, and now that it was live, she booked it towards second base. Umi had a look on her face that was a mix of fear and anger, because she knew exactly what was coming next.

"Infield Fly, batter is out!" yelled the umpire, right arm raised. Umi was forced to run for third even as the ball flew towards the fielding team's third baseman. The entire field seemed to fall silent, like the whole world itself was holding its breath.

Rin's eyes filled with panic. With two outs, another one would spell the end of the game. If the fielder caught it, they'd undoubtedly call an appeal on Nico for not being on her starting base before the ball was hit, therefore failing to tag-up. It would be an immediate out for Nico, ending the final inning. But even if it wasn't caught, somebody could easily scoop it up and tag Umi out, ending the final inning. There was no doubt in Rin's mind, or in any of the girl's minds for that matter, that they were about to lose right then and there.

The ball dropped, hitting the dirt a foot to Umi's right and two feet from the third baseman. She slid onto third base, churning up dust. Rin screwed her eyes shut, awaiting the moment of truth.

"Safe!"

Cheering erupted from the stands, mostly from Honoka. Rin, dumbstruck and trying to process the play that she had just watched, stepped up to the plate. She'd never seen Umi run that fast in her life. Rolling her shoulders back and stretching out her arms, she thought over the details of the play she was about to make.

Rin had been in worse situations than this before. Although the bases weren't totally loaded, which would have been easier to make at least one complete run on, they only needed one run to tie the game. But was prolonging it really what they wanted to do? She wasn't sure Umi would be able to pitch another inning well enough to risk it. It didn't help that Umi was a base ahead of Nico, which prevented the tiny third-year from attempting another steal. Not to mention Umi wasn't their fastest runner to begin with, doubly so because she was probably exhausted. Nobody had planned for this, but it wasn't impossible. Risky? Yes, absolutely. But also very possible.

So Rin readied herself, realizing that in addition to everything else that was working against her right now, the one person she hadn't wanted to see her fail spectacularly was probably staring at her from the bleachers. She gulped, and the pitch was flying towards her before she knew it.

With a crack, the ball was sent flying by Rin's swing, soaring through the air and over the fence. She took off before she even realized what was happening, driven by some emotion that she still couldn't identify.

"Home run!" shouted the umpire. "Game set!"

The game-winning homer drove all three runs, putting them two runs ahead. There was cheering from the stands and cheering all around her, the team stampeding towards Rin and crowding her at home plate. Honoka somehow managed to get into the group hug despite having been on the bleachers mere moments ago, and despite not being on the team.

"We played so well, I love all of you so _muuuuch_ ," Honoka sniffled, clinging onto Umi's back like a baby opossum. Rin grinned, a wide, toothy, confident smile that she just couldn't hold back.

* * *

With handshakes and other formalities out of the way, the crowd had dissipated, leaving only the teams, officials, and a few family and friends. The nervousness had already started to bubble up inside Rin again, rushing over and submerging the joy from winning as she remembered that her battle wasn't over just yet. Before the ginger could retreat to the locker room with the team, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Rin," Maki said quietly as Rin turned to face her. "Good job. You, um… looked really great out there. I mean… you played great. I mean, you played _well_."

Rin couldn't help the blush that started to cover her face and silently thanked the changing seasons because it was just dark enough out that her red cheeks probably weren't very visible. She was a little overwhelmed. For as long as she had spent thinking about this situation, she had nothing planned, no words whatsoever. And now here was Maki standing in front of her in some dark jeans and a purple sweater that looked like it was just a little bit too big for her, staring into her soul and looking utterly gorgeous while doing so. She had even complimented her?

"Ah, uh, thank you?" Rin chuckled, scratching the back of her neck and tapping her foot anxiously. Wait, would Maki interpret that as impatient? She stopped tapping her foot immediately. "It was a team effort though, really."

"You have practice tomorrow...?"

"Nope, we get a break tomorrow, actually. A well needed one, too. Well, most of us do, but I think Umi might make Nico show up as punishment."

"Art room right after classes, then. I have something to show you," the taller girl whispered that last part, and Rin tilted her head in confusion. Maki had something to show her? Rin was under the impression that she had accidentally been shown too much already. What else could Maki even have to show her, now that her weird, slightly creepy secret was on the metaphorical table. Could it be… a knife? In her eye? Was Rin being set up for her own murder at the hands of her… friend? At the hands of her ambiguous relationship girl? Either way, it was clear now that Rin would pay for her crimes with her life. It was only a matter of time before-

"You look… like you're thinking about something weird," Maki stated, squinting at Rin, more so than she usually squinted.

"I never think anything weird!" Rin said, startled out of her weird thoughts, her words way too fast to sound believable. Nice going.

" _Right_. Anyway… art room. Be there, okay?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. I got a little carried away with the actual softball and as a result this is the longest chapter yet. The next chapter is a two parter, with chapter 9 on Friday and chapter 9.5 on Saturday._

 _I'm sorry if this was boring? I love softball._

 _See you next week. Baseball joke._


	9. Well, Do You?

Going out for ice cream after a game was a Softball Club tradition. Or at least it had become one a year and a half ago at Honoka's insistence. After all, what better way to wind down after a hard fought victory than ice cream? Honestly, Rin could think of a few better ways. Like maybe a bubble bath, or a nap.

Rin was… a bit distraught, to say the very least. Had she really expected Maki to show up to the game in the first place? She wasn't sure. But Maki _had_ shown up. If nothing else, she was a woman of her word, apparently. Rin might have even ventured to think that Maki was impressed with her? She didn't know why that made her feel something, a weird something pounding against her chest with fluttering wings, scattering feathery feelings like a trapped seagull. But it did. And the even more apparent mystery was what even was it? Her feelings always did have a way of evading her understanding like that.

"So, anyway," Honoka said with her mouth full of strawberry ice cream that was starting to dribble down her chin and onto Umi's jacket, which Honoka herself was wearing. Umi, who was to her left, forcibly wiped Honoka's face with a napkin as the ginger starting talking. Rin, startled out of her thoughts, looked at Honoka with curious eyes, wordlessly letting her know that she had her attention, which was mostly a lie. Honoka continued, "You know that Nishikino sat right next to me at the game? Like really right next to me. She was like-" she began imitating Maki's low grumble, very much exaggerated, "'You're the only person here that I know' and just sat down! I didn't wanna just be like 'Nah, hoe, get your own seat' 'cause I woulda felt bad, but also 'cause she's terrifying."

"Cool," Rin mumbled into her root beer float, having not heard a word the second-year said despite staring straight at her.

"You didn't even listen!" Honoka exclaimed, grabbing Rin by the shoulders from across the table and shaking her. "Nobody _ever_ sees her outside of school! Why was she there? I wanna _knooooow_!"

"It was just, uh, something we agreed on 'cause of studying together?" Rin replied, grasping nervously at the cuffs of her brown thermal shirt. That had been her cover, the complete lie that she'd fed her friends to keep them from asking too many questions, right? Studying? "And anyway, it's no big deal, right? I think she just really likes watching softball."

Nico piped up at this point, ready to put in her two cents while sneering over the top of her hot fudge sundae. "Is that red-haired demon bitch the reason you've been so spaced out during practice?" she asked, leaning over from the other side of Umi. "Oh also, is she gonna kill you?"

"Nico, language please," said Umi simply.

"No, oh my God, she's not gonna kill me!" Rin blushed, trying to cover up the fact that she was totally, ruthlessly called out on dedicating so much energy just to thinking about Maki. She was embarrassed enough at this point that she'd probably prefer it if someone _did_ kill her. "She doesn't kill people."

Nico, of all people, somehow noticed the tiniest trace of that weird, gross, distracting emotion on Rin's face that Rin herself was still trying to decode. Sneering even more than she already was, Nico asked, "Wait, Rin, do you like her or something?"

The ginger nearly spit her mouthful of root beer all over everyone at the table. "What? Me? _Like her_? No way, why would I like her?" she sputtered, scrambling over her words, her hands waving in front of her face in denial. "Do _you_ like her?"

"Um? Hell no, I've never even fucking _met_ her," Nico scowled, crossing her arms. "You kids need to stop projecting your damn feelings onto me!"

"Language!" Umi said, louder this time.

Honoka pouted, leaning forward to look at Nico in confusion. "Okay but I wasn't even projecting that last time. Everybody knows that you have a crush on-"

Nico's hand shot over, clamping Honoka's mouth shut before she could say anything more. Was she really about to spill the proverbial beans with Umi sitting right between them like that? This continued awkwardly for several seconds, Honoka mumbling protests into Nico's hand, Nico with her arm outstretched in front of Umi, and Umi looking on in mild concern and confusion, one eyebrow raised.

Rin sank down in her chair, glad that everyone's attention was no longer on her. Somehow, in spite of that, her embarrassment only grew as the evening went on.

* * *

Rin arrived at her family's apartment far later than she would've liked. As much as she usually enjoyed the group's little ice cream antics, she was totally drained. Not to mention that the walk home had given her way too much time to think about one certain sentence, to churn it over and over in her mind.

 _Do you like her?_

Did she? Of course she liked her well enough, in the friendly sort of way. Because they were friends. Or, at least Rin thought they were friends. For all she knew, it could have been entirely one-sided. But that wasn't the point. Did she like her in some sort of other way? And what did that even entail? Rin couldn't ever remember feeling something like that for anyone, so she didn't really know what to look for.

Again, this weird self-interrogation that was going on was one of the main reasons why she just wanted today to be over. She was sure she'd forget about it all tomorrow, anyway. Stuff like that didn't tend to hold her attention for long.

And so upon arriving home, despite having showered in the locker room right after the game had ended, she decided to take that much-needed bubble bath. Complete with a cat-eared rubber ducky. She also definitely _didn't_ make herself an exquisite handlebar moustache out of bubbles. That would be silly, and Rin was absolutely _not_ silly.

It did little to clear her head though. This was a problem that not even bubble moustaches could take her mind off of.

She sat down on her bed, changed into a fresh t-shirt, towel draped over her head in preparation to dry her hair, when she saw the notification light blinking on her phone. She reached over to her night stand, flipping her phone open to read the text Nico had sent her apparently twelve minutes prior.

 _no rly do u like her tho? u can talk 2 the great nico ni if u nico nico need gay advice_ , the text read. Rin made a face like she'd just licked a lemon while also simultaneously trying to look at something really far away. Why did Nico have to type like that? It took way too much effort to bypass auto-correct like that, so she was definitely trying to seem cool and casual on purpose. And anyway, Nico was the last person she should be taking advice from, if she were to hypothetically need any advice; Nico was basically the poster child of not knowing how to express her feelings properly. Rin felt a little bad for her, honestly, even if she didn't really understand the scope of that particular situation.

 _IDK i dont think i like her, i dont really know how to tell_ , pouting, she typed up a reply, hitting send and then quickly adding, _and i dont think i need any nyadvice, thanks_

Nico's next text arrived almost instantly.

 _do not evr say nyadvice evr again u stupid furry._

Rin giggled to herself, putting her phone down and letting herself fall backwards onto her blankets. Her hair was still wet, dripping water onto the sheets. The towel fell limply onto her shoulders. Her thoughts ceased with a single small sigh, and she stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Covering her face with one hand in disbelief, she mumbled into the empty room, her own voice echoing. "Oh my god, do I? Do I like Maki-chan?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. This chapter is a little short, but there's a subchapter tomorrow. You're not going to like the subchapter_


	10. The Mercy Rule

It was late in the evening, at least as far as Umi was concerned. It was actually relatively early in the evening, considering that they only spent about an hour at the ice cream place after the game. So, to keep in compliance with Honoka's curfew, which Umi had set for her despite much protesting from the ginger, they were on their way back to Honoka's house.

The streets were pretty empty, which made sense for a residential area on a Tuesday night. The walk home was always one of Honoka's favorite times. She loved the warm glow of the reflection of street lights on the pavement. She loved skipping around the crumbled parts of the sidewalk on the tiny one-way streets of her neighborhood. She loved the sound of crickets hiding and chirping in the tall grass. But most importantly, she loved Umi. The amount of time they actually got to spend alone in each other's company had started to rapidly decrease in their last year of middle school.

Umi didn't like to talk about her father's incident, but Honoka knew it was always weighing heavy on her mind. Umi really loved softball, but sometimes it seemed more like an obsession. The idea that Umi had to take her father's place was ridiculous and naive and both of the girl's were well aware of that, but it didn't stop Umi from trying.

Another thing Honoka knew was that Umi had a tendency to spread herself too thin. She was the type of person who wouldn't ask for help, even if she desperately needed it. Their latest game had really worn her out, but Honoka could tell that that wasn't the reason why Umi had been so weirdly quiet all night. In fact, Honoka was well aware of what the real issue was, and neither of them particularly wanted to talk about it.

Really, despite her facade of ditziness, Honoka was far too observant for her own good. She sometimes wished she were a little more naive, because reality often scared her more than she'd ever admit.

"You did so good out there tonight, Umi-chan," Honoka grinned, hands in the pockets of the jacket she had yet to return to Umi. She skipped ahead, twirling around to face Umi, full of energy that the other girl just couldn't seem to keep up with. Rocking on her heels, she chirped, "Did you hear me cheering? I tried to be extra loud so that you'd definitely hear."

"It would've been impossible not to hear you," Umi said plainly.

"Aw, don't sound so tired Umi-chan! The night is just beginning!" Honoka said, spreading out her arms dramatically as if to give the evening sky a hug. Umi shook her head, looking up to see that they had arrived outside of Honoka's house.

"I am tired, Honoka. I'm exhausted" she said as she approached the ginger, placing her hands gently on the front of the jacket that Honoka had stolen from her. Her gaze was cast downward at the worn fabric beneath her fingers. When she finally continued, her voice was barely above a whisper. "Why are you wearing this, anyway? It's covered in dirt. You'll get your clothes dirty."

Honoka tilted her head to the side in confusion, looking up at Umi with a small pout on her face. "I like it! Because it smells like you and that reminds me of how much I like you, and I like thinking about how much I like you."

"You're saying weird things again," Umi said with an unamused frown. Her eyes softened slightly, and Honoka couldn't describe it as anything but sad and desperate. "It looks good on you, though. I wish you'd join the team."

Honoka frowned in response. There it was, the real issue they'd been tip-toeing around all night. It came up every once in awhile, usually after a particularly tough game, and Honoka knew Umi had been thinking about it again after this game. They'd been over this numerous times before in the year and a half since Umi joined the softball team, and it was obviously wearing on the both of them.

"I can't," Honoka muttered. "I'm not even that good, so it's probably better that I don't join."

"You keep saying that! You're plenty good. You were good when we played together in middle school and I know you're just as good now," Umi insisted, the volume of her voice raising, her fingers now clutching the fabric of the jacket Honoka was wearing.

They were dancing through the same routine as always, and they both knew it would turn into an argument if they kept going. It always did. Honoka, despite something in her mind telling her not to say anything else, continued anyway. "I keep saying it because it's true! I'm really not good enough to compete like you guys are, and you're way better off if I don't join," Honoka looked up at her, her thick eyebrows furrowed in frustration. It frustrated her that Umi couldn't understand how she felt, and it was even worse because if there was one thing the universe had to make Honoka bad at, it was putting the way she felt into words.

"Better off? We're short a player! I'm surprised they even let us play in the tournament at all! How is that better off?" Umi's shoulders were tense, her eyes full of some aggressive emotion than was definitely not anger, but something close. Whatever it was, it caused Honoka to lean back, distancing herself slightly from the geyser that hadn't yet proven if it was active or not. Umi closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then continued, quiet and tepid. "Honoka, we made such a great battery. Our catcher right now is good, but she's not _you_. She doesn't think like you, and she definitely doesn't catch like you."

"I know, but maybe that's better," Honoka said, forcing a smile. "I was never what made us good, that was all you. You take winning seriously, but I never did. That's why I can't join."

"Honoka," Umi began seriously, her grip on the jacket tightening, pulling Honoka back towards her just a little. "You-"

"Look, I know how important winning is to you," Honoka interrupted, her eyes still full of frustration. She was having trouble piecing together the confession of insecurity she was trying to make, as much as she she didn't want to make it. "I don't want to drag you down. So far you've been doing way better without me than you ever did with me. And I'm okay with that. I prefer that actually."

Umi said nothing, instead abruptly letting go of the jacket, her face turned so that Honoka couldn't see the expression on it. "We both know that's not true," she said after a tense moment of silence, her voice shaky. She turned around to leave.

"Umi-chan?" Honoka said, though it came out in a questioning tone, her voice cracking slightly.

Neither of them were sure if they were even talking about softball anymore.

"Go to bed. It's a school night," Umi said, walking off without so much as a real goodbye, her shoulders still tensed and her posture stiff, defensive.

It was another one of those times when Honoka wished so badly that she was a little less sensitive, a little less observant, and a little less able to decode Umi. She wished she could just convince herself that Umi was angry, instead of realizing that she was sad and just pretending to be angry. She wished she knew what to say, or more importantly, how to say it. She wished she could just get over herself.

She didn't realize she was crying at first, but when did, she immediately wished she was also doing less of that. Groaning in annoyance at herself, she wiped her face with the cuff of the jacket she was wearing. The jacket that Umi had forgotten to take with her. _Dammit._

* * *

 _Ckik here. Tipsy, but here._

 _The next two chapters will also have subchapters in case you need more drama in your life._

 _See you next week babes._


	11. Double Play

Rin was exhausted. Her own self-interrogation in regards to her dumb feelings had kept her awake far too late. She had practically been a zombie in all of her morning classes, even resulting in a dodgeball to the face during gym class. Hanayo had freaked out at the bloody nose it had caused Rin, and practically dragged her to the infirmary, screaming all the while.

Rin was so dazed that, as she yanked open her daily bento, she didn't even notice Maki sitting down at the desk next to her to partake of her own lunch. When Rin did notice, the thoughts and questions from last night came cascading over her like a bucket of cold water being dumped on her head. Instead of greeting her like a normal human being, Rin's entire face blushed bright red the second they made eye contact. She sputtered like an idiot for a few seconds before electing to shovel the noodles from her bento into her mouth before she could say something stupid.

Maki looked at her, squinting in what Rin hoped was concern but was probably confusion. Before Rin could choke on her lunch and be put out of her embarrassing misery, Maki cleared her throat and broke the weird awkward silence. "You'll come, right? To the art room later?"

Rin swallowed the mouthful of food, smiling nervously. "Y-yeah, of course," she paused, then just for good measure, added, "I'll be there, Maki-chan."

Rin was pleasantly surprised by the small blush that adorned Maki's cheeks as the redhead averted her gaze to look intently at the contents of her lunch box. They continued to eat their lunches in silence. Which was weird, Rin realized. Lunch break was very rarely silent, but it seemed that Honoka and Hanayo wouldn't be joining them today. Rin shrugged, hardly concerned with their absence. They were busy people, probably.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without event, or if there had been any events, Rin had been blissfully unaware of them. The second half of the school day had mostly consisted of naps. Rin had packed up her things after the bell rang, and after being told multiple times by Hanayo to go on without her, she had.

Now, she found herself standing awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs on the second floor. The art room was at the top of one final staircase. Rin pulled at the strap of her school bag anxiously.

 _Maki hates me and she's finally going to kill me, after all this time spent gaining my trust,_ Rin thought. _It was a clever plan and I walked straight into it. Well, walked gay into it._

A glimmer of gold catches Rin's eye as a figure turns the corner and descends down the staircase. It was the blonde upperclassman whose name she still couldn't remember. The blonde's eyes widened at first, not expecting to run into Rin yet again. At least it wasn't as compromising a situation as the last time.

"Don't worry, she's just as nervous and awkward as you are. You're kind of perfect for each other in that sense," the third-year remarked on the way down the steps, giving Rin an oddly sincere look of reassurance. "You probably knew this already, but she's just a little shy."

Rin sort of understood, but not really. Although her words definitely hadn't been meant to sound cryptic, her tone certainly was. Also, why did this random upperclassman she's never met know so much about her?

Taking a deep breath, Rin shook off the remaining nerves after she was sure the blonde third-year was gone. The art room was only a few steps away, and turning back would only make her more anxious, so she trudged up to the third floor and opened the door without knocking.

Maki was seated by the window again, her usual spot, her arms crossed on the window sill and a lit cigarette in her hand. At the sound of Rin's footsteps, she turned to glance at the other girl.

"You had something to show me, right?" Rin asked, trying not to sound too nervous. It was a miracle that she was even able to form words in the redhead's presence, considering all of the weird thoughts that were bombarding her all at once.

Maki stood up and walked over to Rin, stopping uncomfortably close to her. Seriously, what did this girl have against personal space? She nodded once, her mane of girls bouncing with the movement, and grabbed Rin's hand, dragging her over to the easel in the corner. There wasn't much Rin could do or say, letting Maki pull her across the room.

Without a word, Maki grasped the sheet that was over the easel, yanking it off in one movement. Afternoon light from the windows illuminated the painting as Rin's eyes found it. The scene on the canvas seemed to come to life. The scene finally made sense in Rin's mind, a summer festival by a riverside. The water glowed with reflections of people in yukatas, lit up by the golden lantern lights of stalls and shops. Fireworks were mid-burst overhead, coloring the cobblestone street with a mix of bright colors.

Rin stared at the canvas for a few long moments, before she turned to Maki and grabbed her hand, bouncing up and down with a huge grin on her face.

"Is it done? It looks awesome!" Rin said in awe, looking up at Maki with bright eyes. "Am I like, the first person to see it? That's so cool!"

"It…" Maki began, looking away from Rin's excited smile and frowning seriously. "Was going to be my entry for the final round of this year's state art competition. I've been working on it all summer break," she paused, her shoulders tensed up, and the glare she had focused on the floor narrowed further. "I don't know if I can enter the competition anymore."

Rin's smile fell, her eyes widened. Maki's hand slipped out of her grasp. "What? But you spent so long on it, it'd be a waste not to enter it, right? I promise it looks really good, so don't worry-"

"I'm not worried!" Maki interrupts,her voice cracking slightly. She balled her hands into fists at her sides and then slowly unballed them, breathing out a small sigh. She still wouldn't make eye contact with Rin, even as she continued speaking. "It's not that I don't want to enter it. I-"

A fit of coughs erupted from the artist, cutting her words short as she doubled over suddenly. Rin stared at her in surprise for a second before rushing closer and catching her by the shoulders.

"Are you okay?" In immediate hindsight, that was a dumb question to ask; of course she wasn't okay. Rin wasn't sure if it was possible to tell that someone was about to pass out just by looking at them, but she was pretty sure that Maki looked really light-headed. The taller girl was noticeably shaking, and Rin realized then that she was also shaking.

Without warning, Maki stood back up, taking a step backwards, though it looked more like a stumble. She lifted her head, her eyes catching Rin's and for some reason Rin found that she looked… angry? Or was it frustration, or something else? Rin wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it scared her.

The ginger also took a step back, dropping her hands to give Maki some space. Maki turned away, not facing Rin as she spoke."Just… come here tomorrow, okay?"

Rin nodded, lingering for a few seconds longer, partly because she was concerned for the redhead but also because she was a little too shaken to move just yet. Warning sirens started to go off in her head, and so she silently fled the room before she stayed long enough to get caught in the storm. Something about Maki seemed off today, but Rin wasn't exactly having a perfect day either. What was even wrong with her? Maybe… Rin did something wrong? That was always the first answer she considered, but it didn't seem like the case.

Rin was halfway home when she remembered that she had meant to ask Maki something before she left. The question that had been floating in her head, drifting like an abandoned ship in an ocean that was too small to hold it, since last night. She cursed her own forgetfulness as she thought about it again, _again_ , _**again**_.

 _Do you like me?_ She needed to know.

* * *

It was late when Maki got home. Even hours after school had let out, hours after Rin had left, scurried away like a frightened animal, Maki had stayed in the art room. She paced the floor, stared at the painting, her heart full of frustration like a thunderstorm that just wouldn't let up. Even after all the time she had spent on it, she wanted to yank the canvas from its easel, tear it apart, burn it, make it go away.

She let herself in. Her parents weren't home, but when were they ever? The lights were off and it was cold, uncomfortably cold.

Sitting curled up on the couch, her medication still on the coffee table because she was too worked up to swallow down the pills, her first thought was ' _Call Eli_ '. That was usually her first thought, whenever anything went even a little wrong, whenever she didn't know what to do or what to feel. She sighed, her fingers thumped against the screen of her phone. Always hiding behind Eli, always running to her for answers. She was so bad at this.

 _Ring. Ring. Beep._

"I'm a little busy right now, Maki. What's the matter this time?" Eli said when she picked up. She was clearly trying to sound stern, but she just sounded distracted, and a little bit out of breath.

"Busy with what, _cross-club collaborations_?" Maki grumbled sarcastically. The silence from the other end of the call told Maki that Eli got what she was implying, and also that she was right. "I need your help. What do I do?"

"You're calling me for advice? _Again?_ That's a little out of character for you, don't you think?" Eli sounded surprised, but not the way a person sounds when they're actually surprised. Fake surprise, sarcastic is what it was. Somebody said something on the other end, too staticy and muffled for Maki to hear. "Yeah, I'm talking to Maki. No, you can't say hi."

"Tell your girlfriend I said hi."

"I'm not telling anyone shit," Eli sighed. "Anyway, you need more help with Hoshizora? _Really_?"

Maki frowned, saying nothing in reply.

"Just tell her that you like her already or else I'll do it for you."

"I can't! I don't know how to say it," She blushed, and pulled her knees a little closer to her chest, hugging them with one arm as she tried to hold back a shiver. The house was really cold, literally and figuratively. "That's not even what I wanted help with, anyway…"

"What, seriously? You're telling me she doesn't know that you're-"

"I haven't mentioned it," Maki interrupted, frustrated. She was glad that Eli couldn't see her face right now, because even without looking she knew there were probably creases in her forehead, her eyebrows drawn together. She knew Eli well, way too well even, and she knew that the blonde would definitely poke fingers at her forehead and tease her about her constant glare. "But it'd take an idiot not to see that I'm sick."

"To be fair, she is an idiot."

"...what if I have to drop out of the competition?" Maki mumbled after another few seconds of silence. Just thinking about the possibility of losing her chance made her want to scream, cry, for all the wasted time when she could have been getting better, _getting better_. Why couldn't she just get better?

"Maki, listen," Eli sighed again, her voice gentle, comforting in that big-sister way that she only made use of when she really needed to. "You'll be fine. It's not like you've gotten worse since you've been at school. What makes you think it'll happen now?"

"Stress," she mumbled, resting her head atop her drawn up knees. "Or maybe just bad luck, I guess."

She hung up the call without w

aiting for Eli's reply. She'd figure it out tomorrow, she supposed.

She was so bad at this.

* * *

 _Ckik here. This chapter sucked to write._

 _I'm unconvinced that anybody actually reads this. Subchapter tomorrow._


	12. The Fourth Out Rule

_Should I add an excessive language warning for this chapter? Nico literally cannot stop cursing._

* * *

It hadn't proven too difficult to avoid Honoka all day. They were in different homerooms, and Umi was fairly certain that she was also being avoided. It made her realize, if nothing else, that they really went out of both their ways to spend time with each other. _Usually_.

Umi felt guilty. She felt very undeniably guilty and frustrated and she had no clue what to do about any of it. She hadn't meant to start a fight, though she knew that the topic at hand always lead to one. If anything, she felt that she had Honoka's best interests in mind. Clearly, she loved softball and she strongly supported the team. So why did she refuse to join?

It was after school before she knew it. Even with as exhausted as she was from the game last night, she made her way to the locker room anyway; mandatory punishment practice couldn't start without the team captain. She resigned to wearing her school uniform for the duration of practice because Honoka still had her softball jacket, and Umi was far too much of a coward to confront her and get it back just yet.

Nico was already in the locker room by the time Umi got there, and was already changed into her uniform. Strangely punctual of her, Umi mused. Shame that she was lazing on one of the benches, arms behind her head, taking a nap.

Umi opted to drag the duffle bag full of metal bats from the storage room, dropping it from three feet up next to the sleeping third-year. It landed with a loud clang on the floor, startling Nico awake. She bolted up, scrambling off the bench and landing face-down on the floor on the opposite side of it.

"Good morning. Practice starts now," Umi said, arms crossed. Nico sat up, rubbing her nose and flashing a sheepish grin and a shrug that were meant to cover up how stupid she probably felt. It didn't work very well.

* * *

Practice sucked. It really really fucking blew. Nico didn't think of herself as a person who hated a lot of things (she was wrong, but still) but she really really hated this.

She really wanted to go home, honestly. It was hot out. She was tired. But it could be worse. At least Umi was here too, suffering with her. And boy, did she look like she was suffering. It was weird enough that Umi forgot her uniform, since she'd be damned if she ever forgot anything. But if that wasn't enough, her pitching was, quite frankly, really shit today. Shit enough for Nico to hit every throw all the way into right field. Shit enough for her to hit every throw, period! (And Nico was sure it wasn't because _she_ was getting better. God knows she'd never be any good at softball, but fuck if she wasn't gonna try.)

Something was fucked. Seriously fucked.

"Captain! Umi-taichou!" Nico shouted, letting her bat fall from in hitting position. A particularly slow curveball whizzed past her, bouncing into the fence behind her. "You need a break."

Umi straightened up, adjusted her hat. Her eyes narrowed, darting to the side. "You're just trying to get out of practicing."

Nico frowned. Nico was pretty sure she wasn't an idiot (she was wrong, but still) but Umi might've thought otherwise. She dropped the bat, stomping up to the mound and crossing her arms. " _Seriously?_ What the fuck's up with you today?"

"Don't… speak back to your captain?" Umi said, looking away. It sounded a lot more like a question than she had probably meant for it to sound.

"That's funny. What's the deal?" She shifted her weight to the right with an unimpressed sneer.

"...It's a long story," Umi sighed, lowering her head in defeat. Clearly, she just couldn't resist the persuasiveness of the universe's greatest shortstop.

"Oh, trust me, I have time. Sit down," Nico grumbled. Umi began to sit down on the pitcher's mound. Nico looked at her like she was a fucking idiot. "Are you a fucking idiot? I meant on a bench. Somewhere not in the middle of a damn field."

"Right."

Nico raised an eyebrow at her as they walked back to the locker room. Umi was just a few steps behind Nico, but for some reason that really bothered both of them. Nico wasn't qualified to lead anybody anywhere, even if it was just across a field. "You really are fuckin' weird today."

"Language."

"You didn't say shit the other four times," She sneered as she pushed open the locker room door. Motioning sharply to the room in general, she said, "Alright, _now_ sit down."

Umi did as instructed, holding the bridge of her nose as she sighed. The kind of long, infinitely tired sigh that only somebody who really fucked up would sigh. "I'm having a bad day."

"Oh, really? I couldn't tell," Nico rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the bench next to the taller girl. "What's the issue? You can tell the great Nico Ni anything."

"I… said some things that really upset Honoka yesterday, and she's been avoiding me all day. I suppose I've… also been avoiding her as well. It's a very frustrating situation for me, and I'm not really sure how to handle it."

"What'd you say to her?" Nico asked, leaning forward, her arms propped up on her knees.

"Well, I don't really understand what exactly I said wrong, but it was about why she won't join the team. It doesn't make sense to me why she thinks that I don't want her to join. Actually, I don't even know if she thinks that. I don't know what she's feeling at all, and she won't tell me. I wish I could just know what she was thinking so that we can start to sort this out."

Of course Nico had to play the reliable senior now, of all times. She couldn't watch Umi tire herself out, running in circles trying to find the answer that was literally right in front of her. The third-year sighed. "Did you consider that she might be worried about you?"

"Worried? I don't…," she trailed off, her eyes darting away again. "Why would she be?"

"I don't know, 'cause she knows that you constantly overwork yourself? And maybe she doesn't want to be one extra thing for you to worry about? Because she knows that you're being an idiot but doesn't wanna say anything? Just some wild guesses," Nico shrugged. Gee, does that all remind her of someone or what? Really, Nico had so much in common with Honoka sometimes that she hated it. And not just because she would definitely lose to her at the Umi game. "I know you think she's super confident or whatever, but that's definitely fake. She doesn't want you to have to worry about how she feels because you already feel way too much for your own damn self. Allegedly."

Umi didn't reply, staring at the floor in a way that Nico could only describe as angsty.

Nico sighed again. It hurt her heart just thinking about the next question she had to ask. But she definitely had to ask it. "Do you really not realize how in love with her you are?"

Umi sat straight up, blushing wildly at the question. She waved her hands in denial. "What? No, I just- I mean, she's a really good friend! I don't think of her like that! I mean, I would never-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up with that. You're not fooling me and I know you're not fooling yourself either. Just tell her and the situation will work itself out because newsflash, she feels the same way about you."

"Do you think so?" Umi mumbled. "Will it really help if I tell her?"

"Of course it'll help, are you stupid or something? Why would I, of all people, give you shitty advice?" Fuck. Nico wanted to kick herself for not giving her shitty advice instead. Too good for her own good.

"You might be right," Umi said, standing up. Her eyes looked distant, like she was only just becoming aware of the situation. "I'll tell her."

"Of course I'm right, when am I not? Now get outta here already. I'll lock the equipment up."

Umi already had her bag over her shoulder, ready to leave. She turned as she reached the door, bowing towards Nico. "Thank you, Nico-senpai."

Nico knew she was blushing a little, but hoped it wasn't noticeable. "Get outta here with that 'senpai' garbage. You know I hate that."

Umi smiled, a really grateful smile that Nico definitely wished she hadn't seen. The second the team captain was out the door, Nico's fake smile practically melted off her face.

Why did she have to go and say all that? She should've let them work it out, she told herself. She knew Umi didn't get it. She knew Umi didn't register that half the words out of her mouth weren't even about Honoka. She shouldn't have said anything about it, shouldn't have even initiated the conversation.

But no, Nico just had to be the reliable one. She had to be the mature one here, and she hated it. Hated that she couldn't be selfish about this even if she forced herself. Hated that she wanted Umi's feelings sorted out more than her own, even though it was the right thing to do. She didn't want to do the right thing, but she did.

She especially hated that Umi would never like her even half as much as she liked Honoka no matter what she did. She fucking _loathed_ that.

She was crying about it and she couldn't make herself stop and she hated that too. She kicked the bench as hard as she could and it hurt like hell and didn't help at all. "Stupid. This is all fucking stupid, _fuck!_ "

Her voice cracked, echoed out in the empty locker room and she _hated_ it.

* * *

 _Ckik here. I sure hope you didn't want any of these girls to be happy._

 _This chapter is actually terrible and there was nothing I could do to fix it, so sorry for making you trudge through that. Tune in next Friday and Saturday for more drama._


	13. Behind In The Count

Something was weird. Rin couldn't place the source of the weirdness at first, and it wasn't until she sat down to eat her lunch that she realized the problem. She was eating lunch completely by herself today. No Honoka, no Hanayo, and no Maki. It occurred to her then that Maki had attended exactly zero classes this morning, as she'd quietly ducked out after homeroom ended and hadn't come back.

This was the quietest lunch period Rin had ever sat through, and it made her indescribably uncomfortable.

The second half of the day was basically the same. Hanayo was back from doing Newspaper Club work, so Rin spent the better part of the afternoon launching paper footballs in her direction while the teacher wasn't looking. Hanayo looked unhappy with that, or maybe she just looked generally unhappy.

The miracle that was the final bell ringing couldn't come soon enough. Rin rushed over to Hanayo's desk, sliding over a different desk action style on the way over. She slid the wrong way and went tumbling to the floor, her arms flailing comically. Jumping back up like the world's lamest jack-in-the-box, Rin rubbed her head and laughed to cover up what a disappointing bail that had ended up being.

"You should be more careful," Hanayo said quietly, packing up her notebooks as slowly as ever.

Rin raised her eyebrows at the brunette. Why was everyone being so weird this week? "Are you sad? You seem sad."

Hanayo aimed her gaze at the empty desk in front of her and nodded. "Somebody reported my blog. It might get taken down."

 _Seriously?_ "No way. Your weird gossip blog? I mean, I guess it was only a matter of time before somebody got upset about it," she shrugged. She wouldn't say this, but a tiny part of her wanted it to go up flames. She really didn't like the idea of everybody's business getting put out there without their permission, even if it was the one thing her friend was passionate about.

"What if they report it to the chairwoman?" Hanayo looked up with tears in the corners of her eyes. "I don't wanna get in trouble."

"I'm sure it'll work out fine. Besides, it's not like they know you're the one behind it, " Rin chuckled, a nervous little chuckle because she really didn't know what to say. On one hand, she felt bad for Hanayo; she put a lot of time and effort into this. But on the other hand it was a little morally weird. Rin shifted her weight back and forth anxiously, deciding that she really wanted to eject from the conversation before she accidentally said something stupid or mean. "Hey, I have to go ask Umi-taichou a question before practice starts," she lied. It was the best excuse she could muster to get out of there asap. She gave a smile and a half-hearted wave. "Good luck with your blog stuff?"

* * *

She had tried really hard to focus on practice. She had, really. If there was one thing that could take her mind off of any problem, it was without a doubt softball. She had wanted to lose herself in it, just pretend that nothing else existed but her and her glove and the ball. In actuality, it had been a blur, as though it was barely even real. (Was this what being abducted by aliens felt like?) Nobody was on their game today, and practice got called early. What a disappointment, right?

She expected Honoka to be in her face immediately, but after a few suspiciously Honoka-free seconds, Rin realized she hadn't even been here. Now that was weird. She had a lot of questions, for herself, for her teammates, for the universe in general, but they all went unasked and, as a result, unanswered.

Before she knew it, she was at the bottom of the staircase on the first floor, staring up with all the nervousness in the world. Was this really a good idea? She couldn't even put enough thoughts together into one piece in her head to figure that much out. She had a really bad feeling about the conversation that awaited her up on the third floor.

Despite that, she trudged up the stairs, not entirely sure what to feel. She definitely knew she felt anxious, but when didn't she? She reached the top of the steps and was immediately startled out of her thoughts when she saw that she wasn't alone there. The upperclassman she kept running into was leaving as Rin was getting there. She gave Rin that look, you know, _The Look_ , and a shrug.

"Good luck," the blonde said as she disappeared down the stairs, giving her a nonchalant wave as she passed her. Rin couldn't figure out if her tone was actually encouraging, or if the third-year was just trying to mess with her. Jeez, this was starting to get weird. Actually, she took that back. This has been weird from the get-go.

After a solid three minutes of standing completely still outside the art room door, presumably because she forgot how doorknobs worked, she knocked on the door. Wait, what? Why did she just knock? She's never felt the need to knock before. Now she was being weird too.

There was no reply from the other side of the door. Rin wasn't really sure why she had expected one in the first place. She waited a few seconds, then cracked the door open, just enough to look in. Maki was in her usual spot by the window, her head resting in her hands, a burnt out cigarette butt sitting on the window sill next to her.

"Maki-chan?" Rin called out cautiously. She was met with silence, but she didn't miss the way the other girl's shoulders tensed up when she said it. Carefully, like she was trying to approach a stray cat, Rin stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

"Rin," Maki spoke up finally, her voice a noticeably quieter and rougher than usual, like she'd been coughing all day. Which she probably had. Still facing the window, she continued, "I'm withdrawing from the competition."

Rin was stunned silent for a few moments, staring at the back of Maki's head in disbelief. She took a few steps forward, shaking her head "What? No way, you can't quit, you worked so hard on it. What are you saying?"

"It's not like I _want_ to quit," Maki whipped around, her eyes tired and full of some emotion that Rin hadn't seen from her before. It made the ginger take a step backwards, but Maki was out of her seat and in front of her in the blink of an eye. She looked significantly more tired up close, and Rin could tell that she was trying really hard not to raise her voice. (Whether it was to avoid spooking Rin or because of the strain it would put on her, Rin couldn't tell.) "I have to withdraw because I don't even know how much longer I'm gonna be at this school."

"Huh? Why?" Rin squinted up at her, confused.

"Because I'm sick, you absolute moron," she said through gritted teeth. Before Rin could voice her offense with being called an "absolute moron", Maki took a deep breath, her tensed posture relaxing a little. "I'm sorry, that was mean. I should… explain. I think you deserve an explanation."

"I do?"

"Yeah. You do," she sighed. "I'm sick. Like really sick, but not the dying kind of sick. Just sick enough to not be allowed to live a normal life. I have been for basically as long as I can remember, and I was home schooled for just as long. When my parents told me we had to move to Tokyo because of their work, I begged them to let me go to a regular high school and have a regular high school experience like a regular, not-sick high school girl. But no, of _course_ not. I had to go and get even more sick and now they're trying to pull me out of school and I-" her voice cracked, and she hesitated. "I don't- I can't leave. I don't want to."

Rin didn't know what to say. She could see the tears in Maki's eyes as she spoke, even though the redhead was currently staring a hole into the ground between them. Rin decided that she probably shouldn't say anything, and instead pulled the significantly taller girl into an awkward hug. She didn't really register when exactly Maki returned the hug, but she did register that she kinda felt like she was being crushed, and she definitely registered the tears that were soaking into the shoulder of her uniform blazer. Maki's hands gripped the back of Rin's jacket, like she was trying to pull her as close as possible, shaking and sniffling.

Rin hadn't walked into the art room with very many expectations on how their conversation would go, but she definitely hadn't expected this. They stayed like that for a moment that was way too short, in Rin's opinion, but she obliged when Maki pulled back, breaking off the physical contact.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Maki mumbled, wiping at her eyes with her sleeves. "I just-"

"Maki-chan, can I ask you something kinda important?" She interrupted, looking up at her. Maki blinked at her, presumably caught off guard by the ginger suddenly speaking up. She nodded, and Rin mentally prepared herself for the worst, because she hadn't planned up to this point. She hadn't planned at all, actually.

"Do you like me?" Rin asked. She watched as a bright blush spread over Maki's face as the artist tried and failed to find any sort of appropriate reply, stuttering and stumbling over her words until it turned into a fit of coughing. Rin panicked, not really sure what to do, firing out several apologies in the span of a few seconds until Maki's coughing subsided.

"I shouldn't have asked something weird like that all of a sudden," Rin shifted nervously, scratching the back of her head. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

Maki was completely silent now, not saying anything and not making eye contact. Rin almost convinced herself that it would be better to just slowly back out of the room and pretend that she hadn't even asked. She was just about to speak up (even though she didn't know what she wanted to say) when Maki lifted her gaze, her face still a little red, the tears in the corners of her narrowed eyes catching the light from the windows. The only thought on Rin's mind at that exact moment was how damn pretty Maki was even despite all the crying that had just taken place.

"When's your next game?" she practically whispered, and Rin only just then remembered how hoarse the girl's voice was, how completely exhausted she sounded.

"It's, uh… an away game? On Sunday, I think. Why?"

"I'll be there," Maki said, her tone serious like she was swearing an oath to attend it. She must really like watching softball games. Rin didn't realize that Maki had walked past her until she was entirely out of the room.

"Whoa, wait, wait!" Rin spun around, scurrying out of the room after her. "You didn't answer my question?"

Maki, halfway down the stairs, hesitated for a second before she continued, now walking significantly faster.

"So you'll tell me on Sunday then, I guess?" Rin called after her. Honestly, Rin was a lot faster. She could definitely catch up if she tried. So why wasn't she trying?

Maki paused again before she turned the corner, looking up at Rin from the bottom of the staircase and muttered something that Rin couldn't quite hear.

"Huh?"

"I said I'll think about it!" her voice cracked as she shouted up the stairs. She probably shouldn't have been shouting. Rin felt a little bad for making her have to shout. Maki frowned, clearly a little annoyed, but Rin couldn't help thinking that it was _honestly_ really cute. At Rin's lack of a reply, Maki turned and vanished around the corner with a huff.

"Because I, um-" Rin called after her, but she was obviously too far away to be heard. Rin's voice trailed off to just above a whisper, standing by herself at the top of the staircase, "I think I like you…"

* * *

 _Ckik here. This chapter was really hard to write._

 _It gets happier from here on out. Last subchapter tomorrow_


	14. The Base On Balls Rule

_Notes: the anon that likes NicoUmi a lot more than HonoUmi,_

 _Same, bruh. I'm NicoUmi trash at heart. Unfortunately for me, these girls aren't completely under my control at this point. You have to suffer with me now._

* * *

Umi couldn't say that she hadn't expected this. Day two and she was still being avoided, but she knew she had it still hadn't gotten her softball jacket back, resigning instead to practicing in her gym clothes. That wasn't the only indicator of the less than stellar day she'd be having. In fact, her own worrying got to her enough that she called practice a bit earlier than usual, which everyone on the team seemed suspiciously grateful for. She'd have to do something about their apartment lack of motivation before the upcoming game.

In spite of the plan she'd laid out, the script she'd spent all of yesterday night writing in her head, she ended up taking a while to gather her thoughts up well enough to properly track down Honoka. It wasn't like her to be this nervous; it was only Honoka after all, and working through disagreements wasn't a new challenge for them. Still, she supposed it was a little different this time. Feelings were at stake, feelings she wanted desperately not to deal with yet, but she'd already resolved to do so at the insistence of the only reliable upperclassman she knew. If anybody would be more discontented than Umi herself about the situation remaining unrectified, it would certainly be Nico. The girl gave surprisingly sound advice despite her facade of indifference (or rather, of recklessness).

Honoka didn't prove even remotely hard to find. The first and only place that Umi looked was out behind the school building's left corner, closer to the track than it was to the softball field, but not a particularly far walk. In fact, the trip only took her about four minutes, and it was exactly the place she expected to find the girl. It wasn't the first time Umi peeked around the corner to see her sitting there on the edge of the outdoor sink, earbuds in, staring off past the fence at the Tokyo skyline. After all, they argued more often than either of them would like to admit, and it was almost always about the same handful of things. Despite that, Honoka obviously seemed to know where to go when she wanted, just a little, to be found, and likewise Umi knew where to find her.

Umi approached her quietly, calmly, like they hadn't been ignoring each other for the past two days at all. Honoka, being Honoka, didn't seem to notice her, or if she had, she definitely didn't show it. Knowing her though, it was likely that she was entirely in her own world. Testing that theory, Umi tapped the freckled girl lightly on the shoulder.

Startled, Honoka nearly jumped out of her seat, flailing as she tried to keep herself from falling backwards into the sink. Umi suppressed the urge to giggle at her reaction, sitting down carefully next to her.

Honoka looked at her in surprise, her head cocked to the side slightly like a puppy that was confused at the concept of object permanence. She removed her earbuds and pocketed her phone, and Umi took it as a sign that she was at least willing to listen.

"Good afternoon," Umi said simply, realizing only afterwards that maybe it had come out a little too polite.

Honoka gave her a small smile, like she was thinking the exact same thought as Umi just then. "Hey, Umi-chan," she returned the greeting, her eyes moving back down to the grass at their feet.

"I should apologize," Umi began, clearing her throat nervously. "Rather, I am apologizing."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," Honoka admitted, shaking her head in disagreement with Umi's words, her eyes still glued to the ground. "I knew it would start a fight but I said all that stuff anyway. That's totally my fault."

"No, I think I understand where you were coming from. I know now what you were trying to say, although I'm loathe to admit that I couldn't figure it out by myself. I was given some surprisingly sound advice, and...," Umi carefully, calculatedly reached for Honoka's right hand with her left one, weaving their fingers together and trying not to make her nervousness too obvious. She was certain it was completely obvious anyway from the look that Honoka was now giving her. Blushing, she continued, "I want you to know that if you think that I care more about winning than I do about you, you're entirely incorrect."

Honoka gave her a smile, wide and bright and warm thus that it put the sun itself to shame. It seemed that Umi had gotten her point across, even though she'd worded it in the most roundabout way possible. Well, she supposed that if anyone would understand her particular brand of unstraighforwardness, it was the completely and unabashedly straightforward Honoka.

Chubby arms wrapped themselves around Umi's waist in a sideways hug, the ginger girl beaming up happily at her before resting her head against Umi's shoulder. They sat like that, in a comfortable silence as the early Autumn sun inched downwards in the sky above them. Umi didn't see the occasional glances Honoka was aiming up at her, didn't notice the girl's heartbeat speed up every time her eyes fell to Umi's lips before looking away again.

"Hey Umi-chan," Honoka spoke up suddenly, sitting up, catching Umi's attention and dragging it back to her. "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

Umi spluttered, her face lighting up red in embarrassment. "What? Honoka, we're not little kids, we can't just-"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" she spoke quickly as though she was afraid to stop speaking, her own face also betraying her embarrassment. "You know that's not what I meant. I wanna kiss you for real, Umi-chan. I always wanna kiss you even though you're a big dummy who can't even tell how much I like you."

"W-w-what?" Umi stuttered, surprised not only by Honoka's words but the frustration that was only barely noticeable in her voice. She was just about to let loose another denial, probably containing the word "shameless" at least twice, until she felt Honoka's hand gentle and soft against her cheek, pulling her a little closer, just a fraction of an inch closer.

"I'm being serious. Can I, Umi-chan?" she asked again, blue eyes twinkling up at her, all innocence, the best display of a puppy dog pout that Umi had ever seen.

Swallowing back nervousness that seemed to have rushed over her in spades, Umi nodded once, eyes falling shut. She felt Honoka's lips against hers, soft and fluttery and all too brief, she thinks. It was over in a short moment and when she opened her eyes, Honoka was bashful and blushing in front of her like _she_ was the embarrassed one. Like it wasn't her suggestion in the first place!

"I know I already say this a lot, but," Honoka began, sheepish, her face still way too close, so close that Umi could feel the breath from her words as she spoke. "I love you, Umi-chan."

It hit her then that they had just kissed. In public! At school of all places! This was a real full-blown confession!

Umi fainted, nearly falling into the sink basin on her way down.

* * *

 _Ckik here. This is the last of the Saturday subchapters. After this it's back to uploads on Fridays only, at least for now. However, this particular subplot is far from over._

 _We're at about the halfway point now. Hope you're enjoying the ride. See you next week._


	15. Drought

Friday morning had dragged on, to the point where it felt to Rin like weeks instead of just a few hours. Maki was strangely absent from homeroom and Rin got the feeling that she wasn't in the building at all. Just how sick was she? This was getting a little ridiculous.

The bell rang, indicating the start of the lunch break, but she found herself alone for the second day in a row. As she turned to beckon Hanayo over, she saw the girl rush out of the room with a look of aggravation and urgency on her face, phone in hand. Rin sighed, turning back around with an overly dramatic shrug, slumping down in her chair. She understood that everyone had their fair share of problems to deal with, but seriously? They could _at least_ eat lunch with her.

Just like that, sliding into the room like she was about to start singing about "that old time rock and roll", Honoka somehow miraculously showed up. It was a bit of a letdown when she didn't start singing, but at least she was here. She sat down backwards, legs to either side of the chair back, in the chair at the desk in front of Rin's like the past three days hadn't been a separate but completely ridiculous ordeal for everyone involved. Rin looked at her in disbelief.

"Where've you been?" Rin asked with a laugh, still leant back in her chair. "Lunch was way too quiet without you yesterday."

Honoka was already stuffing her face with bread by the time Rin finished her question. She swallowed her food, apparently deciding for the first time in her life not to talk with her mouth full. "Just, ya know, getting my head screwed back on the right way."

"Your head unscrews?"

Honoka snorted, briefly attempting to hold back obnoxious laughter and failing to do so immediately. Rin stared at her with wide eyes and an unsure smile, not sure what exactly it was that Honoka found so hilarious.

"Rin, you're a riot," the second-year said, wiping a tear from her eye as her laughter subsided. "It was like, a figure of speech or whatever."

Rin responded with a small, nervous laugh, feeling very embarrassed for not getting the joke. If there was a joke in the first place, which she actually wasn't entirely sure of. "You seem like you're in a good mood though. What _have_ you been up to, _for real_?"

"Ah, well…" Honoka began, looking away in what Rin interpreted was bashfulness? It damn well could have been anything, though. "I was having some Umi troubles, but they're all fixed now. Super fixed."

With that, a lot of things suddenly made a lot of sense to Rin. Umi's lack of focus at practice yesterday, Honoka's lack of, well, being around in general. Of course something happened with them. Honoka kept her information vague, but it seemed to Rin that they must have gotten into a fight, and when they managed to make up, things must have ended up better than before. That was the only thing that could explain Honoka's sudden great mood. Like we're talking an even better mood than was standard for her. It was starting to make Rin a little uncomfortable, actually.

"Well, now you know what's been up with me, so what's been up with you?" Honoka asked, leaning her arms on Rin's desk. Honestly, she looked like a weird older sibling that was trying to seem casual and open to discussion, but she just looked a little stupid instead. Rin shrugged, deciding to go with it despite the fact that she was now imagining Honoka wearing a backwards baseball cap and starring in a 90's commercial for lunchables, skateboarding across a fake TV screen in her mind, because that's what she associated anyone slightly older than her with. Really, her mind came up with the weirdest crap. ADD is a hell of a thing to have to live with.

"Same old, just being anxious about everything for no reason."

Honoka frowned, leaning forward and squinting at the younger girl. Rin would've leaned back further in her chair, but she had already reached maximum lean distance, so she ended up making a face pretty much identical to the face a cat makes when you try to pet it but it doesn't want you to.

"Hmm, yeah. I think you're telling me some untruths there, kiddo. Fess up."

Rin sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Of course, nothing gets past Honoka. Her voice lowered to just above a whisper, Rin leaned forward a little. "Well, to be honest, I'm having some Maki troubles. Which are kinda like your Umi troubles, except with Maki-chan. I don't really know if I can talk about it though. I'm just sorta… I dunno, worried about her?"

Honoka sat up, nodding. "I see, I see."

She kept nodding, not saying anything else. Rin raised an eyebrow at her, gesturing for her to say something. "Do you… have any advice for me? Or anything else to say in general?"

"Nope," Honoka said with a grin. "I'm not good at giving advice."

"Seriously? But you just-"

"I could tell you about what happened with Umi if that'll help."

Rin, gestured again, shrugging and then raising a hand as if she was about to make a point, but she didn't. "Ah, uh… yeah, I guess."

"Okay so we were getting ice cream on Tuesday, right? Well, you were there for that, but then we left. And then we were walking and-"

And that was the part where Rin officially tuned out.

She was, honestly, pretty worried about Maki, and about her art competition. Rin really just wanted to do something, anything she could to help,but there wasn't anything. The best she could do from here on out was encourage her, right? Give her some kind of moral support? Although, thinking on it, Rin really wasn't great at that either, given her inability to think before speaking (or sometimes, to think too much) and her altogether bad people skills. She didn't want Maki to think she was dumb or insensitive, even though she was pretty sure that Maki already thought both of those things. Despite that she seemed, at the very least, to tolerate Rin's company, so maybe it wasn't such a hopeless cause after all?

The semifinal game (she could hardly believe they had made it this far) was approaching fast, speeding towards her in the midst of all this weird drama and chaos like a car way too expensive for her to even look at barrelling down the highway straight into a tornado. She felt like even if they won this game, and the next one, even if they won every softball game in the universe, she wouldn't be happy knowing that Maki was unhappy. The thought of that was weird in itself, and scared her a little because she'd only known the redhead for maybe five weeks, maximum. But it felt like so much longer. When did everything become so serious? This was getting to be a little bit too much.

"Hey, Rin-chan!" Honoka said with a pout, flicking Rin in the forehead.

Rin scooted back in her seat, the metal chair legs squealing as they slid across. Hands covering the red spot on her forehead, she let out an indignant stutter. "H-hey! What was that for?"

"You weren't listening to my story! I just got to the best part," Honoka grumbled, cheeks puffed out like a grumpy toddler.

"...I guess I wasn't. Sorry, sorry. What was the best part?"

"Well, the end of that story that you didn't hear any of is that I kissed Umi and then she passed out."

* * *

Practice that day went a lot better than the previous day. Rin was absolutely ecstatic about it. Even though she'd been plagued with worried thoughts throughout the afternoon, being outside and kicking up dirt made her feel a lot better.

Umi seemed a lot better too, and Rin had to fight back the urge to tease her about it, since she was sure the captain would flip if she knew that Rin knew about the private extracurricular activities she was taking part in off the field with Honoka. The thought of an Umi freak-out scared Rin enough that she kept her mouth shut, and thoughts of running and catching soon filled up her mind so much that there wasn't room to think about much else. Which is exactly the same thing that happens when you yell "fetch" at a dog.

And so, practice passed way more quickly than she would have liked, since she had really been enjoying herself out there. The return to her regularly scheduled overthinking was very much unwelcome, but among various other worries, she at least realized that she had left a textbook that she needed for homework tonight in the classroom. Was she going to do the homework? Absolutely not. But she was at least going back for it. Nobody could say she didn't make an effort to care about schoolwork.

She jogged across the building to her homeroom, turning the last corner. She slowed but didn't stop when she saw someone standing by a door, arms crossed. Specifically, by the door she had been headed for.

The tall figure turned to look at Rin, and Rin realized it was, once again, that upperclassman. The one with the blonde hair, that seemed to know way too much about her. Rin approached cautiously, hands shoved in the pockets of her blazer, trying really hard not to think about that time she had witnessed the aftermath of something that definitely shouldn't have been going on in the photography clubroom. She started thinking about it anyway.

"Did you forget something, Hoshizora?" the third-year said with a small smirk, brandishing Rin's trig textbook.

Rin squinted, frowning at her in confusion, then at the textbook in her hand, then at her again. She came to the only conclusion that made sense in her mind, and voiced it without thinking. "Are you like, a ghost or something? That's haunting me?"

The older girl made a slightly surprised face at her, clearly not expecting the question. She pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head slightly, and with a small sigh, muttered, "Oh boy, you really are dumb." She shifted, stepping away from the wall to stand in front of the tiny first-year. "No, I just happen to know everything. Before you ask, it's not a coincidence that we ran into each other, this time. I was looking for you, actually."

"Why? Also who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"I'm Ayase. You might know me as the senior class rep, though, and president of the art club."

Oh, that made sense. It certainly explained why Rin recognized her, vaguely remembering the welcome speech that the first years had been forced to sit through at the beginning of the year. Rin definitely remembered that the speech was boring, and she had been asleep for a large part of it, probably including the part where this chick introduced herself. It also explained why she knew Rin, sort of. Does the senior class rep generally do things like memorize the names and faces of every underclassman? Or was it just this one?

"Nice to meet you and all that," she said, after determining from the lack of a reply, that Rin was completely zoned out, thinking about something else entirely. Probably something stupid. Which was correct. "I'm a little short on time since I spent a large part of the afternoon looking for you. I need to talk to you, about Maki, specifically, but not today. Does tomorrow work for you?"

"What?" Rin continued frowning at her, having barely registered anything she had just said. "You know Maki-chan?"

Ayase blinked at her. "I just said I'm in the art club? You're not a very good listener, are you?"

"I thought there were only two people in the art club."

Ayase sighed, looking a little disappointed for some reason. "I really _do not_ have time to explain basic concepts to you right now. I need to borrow you tomorrow, so meet me at the cafe on third at, I don't know, noon? Can you do that?"

"I guess," Rin nodded, not entirely sure what she was agreeing to or why she was agreeing. "Can I have my textbook now?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. Due to a myriad of circumstances beyond my control, I wasn't able to finish last week's chapter on time._

 _I'd like to take this time to personally thank that hot bartender who made me three whiskey sours in a row, and also that song Closer by the Chainsmokers._

 _That's the kind of life I'm living here, people. Now, before the recollection of the events of my weekend gets more interesting than the actual chapter-_

 _Stay tuned for the second chapter that I'm uploading immediately after this one as an apology._


	16. Bullpen

Ayase was already there by the time Rin arrived, half an hour late and clearly not completely awake. Really, why would anyone want to be awake before one in the afternoon on a Saturday? It had taken almost more willpower than Rin possessed to force herself out of bed for long enough to get dressed in the first shirt she picked up and then stumble three blocks down the sidewalk to the meeting place. If nothing else, at least she might get some food as a consolation. Maybe.

Ayase was sitting at a booth near the front, dressed in a plaid shirt that looked a little too big to actually be hers, sipping a chocolate milkshake while tapping idly on her phone. Rin sat down across from her without a word, looking very much like a grouchy monkey.

"Not a morning person, huh?" Ayase raised an eyebrow at her. Sliding a small basket of french fries in Rin's direction, she continued. "Have some fries. We might be here for a while."

"Why?"

"Aren't you curious about her? About Maki?" the blonde asked, propping her arm up on the table and leaning her head against it slightly.

Rin perked up, suddenly very awake at the mention of a certain redhead. She immediately shrank back a little when the upperclassman smirked at her reaction. Eyes shifting to the side bashfully, she murmured, "Uh, yeah. A little."

"Ask away, then."

Rin looked down at her hands, folded up neatly and nervously in her lap. She was still a little intimidated by this girl, but she also seemed to know a lot. What should she ask? Now that she had an opportunity to have her questions answered, she couldn't remember what it was exactly that she wanted to know. She glanced back up, hoping that the upperclassman wasn't staring at her. She wasn't, and was in fact fixated on the phone in her free hand, reading something and then taking a moment to tap on it again. Rin wondered if she was texting somebody. (She was.) Was it Maki? (It wasn't.)

"How do you know Maki-chan?" Rin blurted out the first question she could think of.

"Oh boy, that's a pretty long story," Ayase said, sipping at her milkshake. "I've known her forever, since we were kids. Our fathers happened to be pretty close friends. She was kinda sheltered back then, didn't get to go outside very often. I was her only friend for a pretty long time. And yes, she was just as humorless then as she is now."

Rin fidgeted in her seat, picking at the basket of fries but not actually taking very many. After a few seconds of quiet, she spoke up again. "Is she… okay?"

"That's debatable. I won't sit here and tell you that she isn't sick, because she is. Her folks were a little more overprotective than they needed to be though, I think. And she's a little… well, she gets stressed out easily. And when she gets stressed out, she convinces herself that she's sicker than she actually is. Which stresses her out more. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"Not really," Rin admitted. It was a lot of information, after all, and Rin was pretty bad at connecting the dots. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"She's a little weird, as I'm sure you're aware. She needs to relax a little, and she won't listen to me, so I figured she might listen to you. You get along pretty well, right?"

"I mean, I guess," Rin shrugged. "I feel like she doesn't like me that much though."

"You literally couldn't be more wrong," Ayase laughed. "She likes you a _lot_ , actually. She won't shut up about you, trust me."

"She _what_?" Rin blushed, eyes wide.

"Listen, I don't want her to drop out of the competition either," the blonde continued, ignoring Rin's confused stuttering. "She just needs to like, simmer the hell down. The prize is a college grant, ya know. I bet she didn't tell you that. I know she can win, and I'd bet that you know she can too. So…?"

Rin blinked at her in confusion, fumbling over her words for a moment. "W-what do you want me to do?"

"Just talk to her. You know what to do," she shrugged, sliding out of the booth and pocketing her phone.

"I don't, actually?" Rin twisted around in her seat to say to the other girl as she left.

"Good luck," Ayase waved.

Rin turned back around in the booth, pouting as she reached for the basket of fries. Her hand made contact with the table, and she felt around frantically for another second before glancing down to see that the basket and it's contents were gone. She stood up, slamming her hands down on the table in a mix of outrage and disbelief. The other patrons of the restaurant glanced over at her as she let out a shout.

" _She took the fries!_ "

* * *

 _Ckik here. Yes, this chapter is very short. I'm very tired._

 _With any luck I'll be back with a big (in both length and importance) chapter next week._


	17. Two For The Show

When Rin's alarm went off that Sunday morning she had already been awake for a good twenty minutes, staring blankly at the ceiling and really dreading the game that she had to go get ready for. The pregame nervousness was already hitting her in full force and she hadn't even tumbled out of bed yet. She got ready in a daze, fumbling around for the bag with her uniform in it and practically falling into it. She pulled on a hoodie over the navy and white uniform, too tired to find something that matched even a little.

Before she even realized it, she was walking up to the school with the remnants of a granola bar in her hands. The bus sat idly in the otherwise empty parking lot, and Umi stood outside it with a clipboard in her hands and a frown on her face. Rin almost wanted to ask if something was up, but if she did that Umi might tell her. And it was way too early for that, honestly. So she quickly and quietly boarded the bus, breezing past Umi with an acknowledging nod.

Honoka was already on the bus, of course, despite not being on the team. Literally nobody seemed surprised about this. Rin sat down next to her, slumping down in the seat with a loud, dramatic sigh.

"Good morning to you, too. Even though it's like noon."

"It's sooooo earlyyyyyy," Rin whined, huddling up in her hoodie with a pout on her face, kind of resembling a brown and orange pile of ooze. A tired pile of ooze that had stayed up way too late last night eating cold pizza rolls and watching anime reruns. Honoka snickered in response despite not knowing the funniest part of the situation, which was definitely the image of Rin on the floor in front of her TV, wearing a snuggie and stuffing her face while the Dragon Ball Z intro played for the third episode in a row.

The bus started with a weak roar, and Umi stepped on, still frowning. Honoka waved at her excitedly as she checked over the equipment sheets on the clipboard. Umi squinted at her and gave a half-hearted wave before sitting down at the front of the bus. (Half-hearted was definitely an exaggeration, it couldn't have been more than two fifths.)

The bus pulled out of the parking lot with a few concerning sputtering sounds, heading for the highway before the early afternoon traffic got too bad. They ended up in early afternoon traffic anyway, but luckily Umi had planned for this in advance, which was why they had left at noon anyway. Rin got the feeling that maybe they had left a little too early. They were gonna have a whole lot of free time to do absolutely nothing with once they got to the other team's field.

Rin sat in relative silence through the first fifteen minutes of stop-and-go traffic, aside from the occasional tired grumble. She said it before and she'll say it again; what business did anybody have being awake before one in the afternoon on a _weekend?_

"Is Maki gonna be at this game too?" Honoka spoke up, bored with Rin's quiet complaining.

Rin glanced down at her feet, carefully observing every speck of dirt and dried leaf crumble on the bus floor while she looked for an answer. Oddly enough, the answer wasn't mixed in with the debris on the floor. Weird. "I think so?" she managed to mutter out but it sounded too quiet, too unsure, and Honoka latched onto that pretty quickly, in classic Honoka fashion.

"You only think so? Why, did she say she might not?"

Rin shrugged, not really having an answer for that. Maki had said she'd be there, and evidence very clearly pointed to her making good on her word. She was a lot of things (grouchy, distant, and a little rude, to name them) but she was definitely not a liar as far as Rin was aware. Still, ever the anxious baby that she was, Rin couldn't help but wonder if Maki would really be there. What if she was too sick? It was a pretty far drive, too, so how was she even planning on getting there? The more Rin thought about it (overthought about it, really. But when was she ever not overthinking something?) the less likely it seemed that Maki would show up. Maybe that was for the better, though. Additional reasons to be nervous wouldn't do her any good when it came time to play ball.

If nothing else, the bus ride seemed to fly by while Rin was lost in her own jumbled thoughts. Any time she tried to think about literally anything she had to metaphorically venture through her brain with a machete, chopping at thick curtains of foliage like she was Indiana fucking Jones minus the fedora and tasteful leather satchel. A few glances to the bigger ginger next to her revealed that she was done having conversations for the time being, headphones plugged into a Nintendo 2DS that she was happily tapping away at. Whatever, they were basically almost there if road signage was to be believed.

For the record, it wasn't to be believed. Well, actually Rin just wasn't entirely sure how reading highway signs worked, and she had ended up falling asleep a few times until the bus wheels hit potholes that were probably the size of people in her half-asleep imagination. The weird thing about nodding off is that you always feel like you've just fallen from four feet in the air when you wake up.

Anyway, they got there eventually. Rin wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed by the time they arrived at the field. All she was sure of was being pushed off the bus by Honoka like she was a heavy piece of furniture. She was at least passably awake by the time her sneakers hit the pavement of the parking lot.

Umi ushered the girls over to the building that contained the locker rooms. The girls crowded around her by the entryway for what Rin assumed was going to be one of her infamous pep talks, which were more like monologues than anything else.

"So, as I'm sure I informed most of you, I received a call from Chiaki before we embarked that she is sick and will not be able to make it to the game today," Umi began, much to Rin's surprise. Also, why did she have to say words like 'embarked' in her regular day-to-day speech, like go write poetry somewhere else, Umi.

"Wait, I didn't know about this? Also who is that?" Rin asked, raising her hand like she was waiting to be called on even though she was already talking. She received a sharp elbow to the ribs from Nico, who was standing to her right.

"That's our third baseman, jackhole. And you didn't know cause you showed up late," the third-year whispered to her harshly.

Umi cleared her throat before she continued, glancing to Honoka who was a good ten feet to the left of them, leaning with her back against the wall of the building, still playing whatever game she'd been fixated on for the duration of the bus ride. "As I'm sure you all know, though the league has graciously allowed us to play with only eight members on our roster instead of the usual nine, they absolutely will not allow us to play with only seven."

At that point they all looked at Honoka. Umi especially looked at her really hard.

"Why are we all looking at me? Did I miss something?" Honoka asked, a nervous and slightly uncomfortable grin on her face, making her look more or less like a frightened dog.

"We need you to fill in for Chiaki," Umi said, her tone official in a way that obviously implied that Honoka shouldn't try to argue with her on this.

"What? I don't even know who that is."

"She's our third baseman, holy shit you guys!" Nico said loudly, exasperated.

"Whoa wait, I never agreed to this. I'm not even on the roster!" Honoka protested, arguing anyway despite the unspoken warning from the team captain. She didn't quite stomp up to them, but she was definitely unhappy with this development and it showed.

"Actually, we have you on the official roster as a bench warmer," Umi stated simply, pointing to the clipboard in her hand. It did indeed list her as technically being on the team.

"I never agreed to this!" she repeated, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance but not quite anger. "And anyway, I don't even have a uniform!"

"Actually," there was Umi with the 'actually' again, holding up a brand new uniform with a navy number twenty-nine on it. "We have one for you. It should fit you fine, assuming you haven't gained weight."

"I have," Honoka deadpanned, visibly unimpressed with the amount of effort put into royally tricking her. "When did anybody decide on this?"

"Before we left."

"And I didn't get a say in it?"

"Yeah, cause you woulda fucking left," Nico sneered, pushing the neatly folded pile of uniform garb into Honoka's very unhappy hands, and then struggling to push the ginger towards the visiting team locker room. "Just get changed so we can warm up, shithead. You're playing catcher and Miki is covering third."

"You guys suck! This is unfair," she protested as she stumbled through the doorway and down the hallway. Despite the mix of name-calling and continued argument spilling from Honoka's mouth as she headed for the locker room, Umi was very obviously trying really hard to avoid letting a dumb smile paint her face.

She turned away from the group, covering her face with a hand and coughing awkwardly. "You should all go warm up."

Rin, on the other hand, grinned in full force. She hadn't played a legit game of softball with Honoka on the team in nearly two years. For the first time today, the excitement outweighed the nervousness.

* * *

The first six innings didn't go great. In fact, they had gone really badly. For all her meticulous planning to get Honoka onto the field, Umi's performance so far had been embarrassing at best. Even from first base, Rin could see the two arguing wordlessly. Umi was refusing to throw anything but fastballs, much to Honoka's obvious displeasure. It was a fair argument to say that Honoka was a little out of practice, but she didn't seem to agree with that.

It wasn't like Umi to give up hits like that. Everybody on the team could see that she was uncharacteristically afraid; equally as afraid of pitching too hard to catch as she was of losing their next to last game.

It was already the bottom of the seventh inning, and things weren't looking good for them. They were behind, the score four runs to their two, and the two runs they had only possible because Rin had managed to hit an early triple and advance Honoka (their lead-off for today) and Nico.

With a runner on second and third and no outs to speak off, it was a little ridiculous that Umi still insisted on shaking off the pitches Honoka was asking for.

Umi loosed another fastball, and the girl at bat made contact but it flew straight into foul territory. A strike, but the fact that she had made contact on the first pitch was already bad news. At this rate Umi was definitely risking giving up another run.

In Rin's mind she was pretty sure they wouldn't have time for the kind of comeback they needed. It seemed obvious to her in hindsight that a plan like this couldn't possibly work.

Before Umi could throw another unwanted fastball, Honoka signalled a timeout request, which the ump approved. Umi looked at her in confusion as she stormed up to the pitcher's mound like somebody had just stolen her pudding out of the fridge even though she had clearly written her name on it in three different places.

"What are you doing? Do you want to lose or something?" Honoka whisper-yelled, frowning up at the girl-turned-metaphorical-pudding-thief. The pudding in this analogy is the softball game, and the stealing is Umi's refusal to listen, somehow.

"No, I don't want to lose," Umi said, looking offended at the mere suggestion of it.

"Then why are you so afraid of throwing breakers? Do you think I can't catch them or something?"

"You're out of practice and I don't want to hurt you," Umi insisted. "It's better to risk a hit that we have a chance of making outs on than it is to give up a base because you don't catch a breaking ball."

"I wouldn't have agreed to this if I thought it would drag the team down. Please, just trust me, okay?" Honoka said, really really meaning it. "Pitch like we're in JV again, Umi-chan."

She nodded, taking a deep breath as she resolved to stop stealing clearly claimed cups of pudding, metaphorically speaking. "I will. Are we done talking?"

Honoka pouted up at her, blushing a little as she muttered, "Well, also I really wanna kiss your dumb stupid face right now. But I realize that now's a really bad time for that."

Umi blushed a bright red at that comment, her mouth opening and closing, trying and failing to say literally anything in response. Honoka retreated to behind home plate but not before blowing Umi a kiss cutely, sending her into a slight flustered panic yet again.

With a grin, Honoka signalled for a curveball. The dark-haired pitcher shook off the embarrassment caused by the other girl, closing her eyes and taking another deep breath as she wound up the pitch.

Really, Rin wasn't sure what had just happened, as their conversation wasn't quite loud enough for her to hear. Nico, on the other hand, with her unusually good hearing, appeared to have heard it pretty well from her position between second and third, judging from the fact that she was making gagging motions at their disgusting flirting. Is the middle of a game really the fucking time for that?

Rin's eyes snapped back over to the batting box at the sight of Umi winding back. The pitch went flying towards the batter, who swung just as the ball dropped into a downward curve in front of her, missing the bat entirely. Honoka caught it with ease, flashing a thumbs up and a grin as she tossed it back. A second, faster curveball retired the batter when it came to a stop in Honoka's glove.

The next batter marched up from the on-deck circle, a large girl that looked like she could hit a softball just by glaring at it hard enough. Honoka signalled for a change-up down and to the left, something that wouldn't go far no matter how hard this girl hit it. Umi nodded, and Nico, watching the exchange, moved forward a few steps.

The first pitch blew past her, just outside of the hit zone, and she remained still. A ball, certainly not the first one of the game, but almost certainly the last one. Honoka tossed it back, giving Umi a look that Rin couldn't really decipher from so far away. Whatever it was and whatever it meant, Umi seemed to get it.

She wound back for another pitch, throwing a cut fastball that dropped to the batter's left. She barely managed to hit it, catching it low on the bat. It headed weakly for Nico, right where she had anticipated it would go. The tiny shortstop caught it with a leap, outing the batter before she made it anywhere near first.

Nico turned, her hat flying off as she dashed for the runner at second, who had barely taken three steps off the plate by the time she was tagged out. The throw to home was a long one, but she whipped the ball towards Honoka with as much strength as she could manage. The ginger caught it with a sidestep and leaned out, tagging the final runner as she attempted to slide for home.

"Out!" yelled the umpire. "Change sides!"

It was an immediate triple play, the change in pitching coming into effect way sooner than anyone had imagined. With their spirits lifted enormously, the girls headed for the dugout while the dumbstruck opposing team took to the field.

They were right at the top of their batting order as the eighth inning began, and with their morale improved exponentially it was the perfect opportunity for the comeback they needed. Honoka was up first to bat, and missed the first two pitches. a

Although she made contact with the third pitch, it went foul. The fourth time was the charm apparently, as she slammed it high into the air. It ended up flying straight into the opposing shortstop's hands. The throw that followed reached first base just a second before Honoka did.

"Out!" yelled the umpire. Honoka pouted indignantly as she trudged back to the dugout.

Nico was up next, watching from the on-deck circle as Honoka failed spectacularly. The home team's fielding was good, but their pitcher seemed a little reckless. From the look on Nico's face, it seemed like she was hatching a plan.

When the first pitch came she whiffed it on purpose, letting it fly past her bat and into the opposing catcher's mitt, just testing the waters to see how well this would work. The answer she found was that things were about to look pretty good for Otonokizaka. As the pitcher was winding up the second pitch, Nico dropped her bat into a stationary position in front of her, ready to bunt. The pitcher grinned, throwing a fastball in Nico's direction. At the last second, the tiny girl pulled back her bat and swung at the ball, sending it flying into the outfield. The pitcher stared dumbly as Nico bolted for first before the outfielders could even react, and then for second before the ball made it there.

The next girl at bat hit a single, the pitcher too furious at Nico's cheap tactics to actually strike the new batter out, putting runners now on first and third. Rin was up next, strolling up to the plate with a smile that was a little too smug. As she readied her bat and got into position, the opposing catcher stood up behind her. Rin's eyes widened as the first pitch went far above her head and into the catcher's glove, an intentional ball, and then another one, and then a third one.

Rin wasn't about to let them intentionally walk her, hell no. When the fourth pitch came it was just a little too low, still technically outside the strike zone, but Rin wasn't having any of this. She swung her bat, sending the ball flying into right field, bouncing past the fielders who had barely been paying attention. They scrambled for it while Rin ran for first.

The right fielder scooped up the ball and beaned it towards the shortstop as the other runner dashed away from second and straight into the shortstop's reach, getting tagged out at the same second that Nico touched home plate. The opposing shortstop turned, ready to throw the ball towards first, but Rin was already past it, sliding feet first into second base before the tag could reach her.

"Safe!" declared the up, even though it hardly needed declaring. Rin stood, brushing some dirt off the back of her uniform pants. Nico made a celebratory fist-pump gesture at her as she walked backwards towards the dugout, and then tripped and stumbled backwards through the doorway. Rin echoed the fist-pump while trying very hard not to break into fit of giggles. For somebody with as poor coordination as Nico, she sure liked to walk backwards a lot.

Their third baseman (who was usually their catcher, and who does indeed have a name, but fuck if Rin remembered it) was up next and Rin really hoped that this girl (whatever her name was) had a good plan.

Lo and behold, the plan proved to be good. A hit on the second pitch that went so deep into foul territory that there might as well have been geese there gave Rin the opportunity to rush forward, stealing third base with ease before anyone could even think to stop her. The next pitch turned into a bunt that bounced to the pitcher's right.

The pitcher scooped it up, not quite managing to throw it to first before Rin's cleats touched home. The ball slammed into the first baseman's glove, the batter-runner two steps from the base. If a sacrifice bunt was what they needed, they certainly made good use of it.

"Third out! Change sides!" barked the umpire.

Rin jogged to first with a bright grin on her face. Nico high-fived the ecstatic ginger on the way to her post between second and third. The home team was at the top of their batting order now, but with the improvement to Umi's pitching, it didn't matter much.

The opposing team managed a single run despite that, putting them ahead again, but not by much. With one out and a runner on second, Otonokizaka's team stood a good chance of ending the inning without giving up any more ground, but they also stood a good chance of giving up another run if they weren't extremely careful.

The first two pitches were easy strikes, the batters not yet accustomed to Umi's sudden use of breaking balls. The third pitch was a curveball that dropped just a little too late, practically dropping straight into the path of the bat as the girl swung.

The ball popped up over the infield. Rin dashed into the dirt to catch it as it came down, outing the batter-runner. The girl second made a break for it and Rin turned, cleats skidding across the ground as she flung the ball in Nico's direction.

The tiny shortstop caught the ball and dropped into a low stance, a glint in her eyes. Rin could hear Umi groan from the pitcher's mound because they all knew what Nico was about to do. She took off sprinting at full speed towards the girl who had been running from second to third, but was now frozen in fear. Nico flew towards her, sliding to a stop within an inch of her to tap her on the shoulder with the ball, outing her.

It was technically a legal movie because tag outs are completely valid, but everybody as a whole hates when Nico does it because it's really stupid. It's kinda her thing though because all she's good at is running. The Nico Fan Club section of the bleachers erupted into cheers after witnessing a classic Nico Ni play.

That out ended the eighth inning, but the ninth one was really going to be the moment of truth. Rin's team was behind by one again and at the bottom of their batting order.

Their sixth batter in the lineup was up first, and she was up and down in three pitches. Their seventh quickly shared a similar fate. Umi was their last line of offense this inning.

"She'd better work a miracle," Honoka mumbled as she left the dugout to head for the on-deck circle.

Like a goddamned messiah, Umi hit a line-drive down the alley, straight past the shortstop and both the left-fielder and center-fielder. It was only a single due to Umi's less than great running, but it was something. And God knows they fucking needed something.

Honoka lead off with all of the confidence in the universe, and immediately looked downright silly when she missed the first two pitches. Umi nodded at her from over on first, and it was just what Honoka needed.

She slugged the neon yellow softball straight over the fence. It might as well have exited the earth's atmosphere and gone into orbit. Rin had a weird feeling that it probably hit somebody's car in the parking lot and smashed through the window.

Ahead by one, Nico was up to the plate now. With a "Nico Nico Ni" for extra confidence boosting, she immediately proceeded to Nico Nico not hit all three pitches. Yikes, talk about embarrassing yourself. It didn't matter much at that point, Honoka's homerun putting them ahead by one yet again.

In the most anticlimactic turn of events, the bottom of the final inning was a no-hitter. Umi outed all three batters in exactly three throws each, and Otonokizaka ended the game with a 6-5 win. The girls rushed onto the field to crowd around Umi in their standard victory group hug. There was a lot of dirt involved in the group hug. Because everyone was covered in it. Group dirt.

Championship, here they come.

The team trotted towards the locker room in a great mood, ready to get changed out of their filthy-ass uniforms and go get some ice cream. But not the whole team. Rin stayed behind, wandering past the fence to stand awkwardly by the now-empty bleachers.

Rin didn't really know where she'd find Maki if she attempted to look for her. Well, she probably wasn't there in the first place, so looking for her would be pointless anyway, Rin determined. She wasn't entirely sure what to do or what to say it what exactly her plan was on the off chance that she did locate the redhead. She was, however entirely sure of how gay and worried and also gay she was being right now. Tone it down a little, would you?

Ironically, Maki found her first, seemingly without having to do much looking at all. The sudden awkward pat on the back startled Rin out of her gay worried thoughts.

"You won again," the taller girl said, looking away. "Good job. That thing you did when you hit the ball even though it was kind of far away was… pretty cool, I guess."

"You're actually here!" Rin exclaimed, grabbing Maki's hands in obvious surprise. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Maki furrowed her eyebrows at the other girl in confusion. "I said I'd be here and I'm here."

"Cause you're like, you're sick and stuff," Rin blabbered. "You weren't at school on Friday and I was- I don't know, I was a little worried."

"You were worried about me?" Maki blushed. Rin also blushed once she registered the words that had just tumbled out of her own mouth.

"Uhhh, I mean, I- I was just-" Rin stuttered.

"Rin," Maki interrupted, glaring down at the patchy grass beneath their feet with a stony expression despite the next words out of her. "I like you."

"...Yeah, I know. Actually, I-"

"Wait, what?" Maki interrupted, suddenly looking quite angry. Well, more so than she typically looked. "You knew already?"

"Funny story about that! You see, I-"

"There's no way you figured that out on your own, you're way too dumb," she interrupted for a third time. Always with the off-hand insults.

"Um, Maki-chan, hold on a second," Rin attempted to interject.

"Did Eli tell you?" Maki took an angry step forward into Rin's personal space with anger in her eyes. "She did, didn't she? What the hell is her problem?"

"Maki-chan, I-"

"Seriously, what the fuck! I told her I could handle this on-"

Rin reached up, a hand on either side of the taller girl's face, pulling her down into a hasty kiss, just long enough to shut her up. It was barely a few seconds before Rin let go of her, taking a step backwards as Maki slowly lifted her head back up.

"I like you too, dummy," Rin murmured. "Okay?"

She wasn't sure if Maki was even listening. She stared, dumbstruck, the blush covering her face almost as red as her hair, looking very much like she was about to explode like a bottle of diet soda with an entire pack of mentos in it.

"Earth to Maki-chan, do you copy?" Rin poked her, grabbed at her arm to try to shake her back into reality. "I need to go get changed out of my uniform. We're gonna go find the nearest ice cream place if you wanna, uh… go with us?"

Maki nodded, looking almost exactly like the tomato from Veggie Tales except a whole hell of a lot gayer. She nodded again for good measure.

"Alright, well, I'll be right back, so wait here, okay?"

* * *

 _Ckik here. I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I finished writing this about ten minutes before posting it. It's not even a tiny bit proofread, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't suck too bad._

 _Sure hope you like reading about softball. Tune in again next week for more gay shenanigans._


	18. Strikeout Pitch

"Alright, so can somebody explain to me exactly why the hell the demon freshman is here?" Nico scowled, pointing an accusatory finger at the freshman in question from across the table. Maki, nestled in between the window and Rin in the restaurant booth, had been sipping a cherry coke float in relative silence up until that moment. She glared and sneered at the finger pointed in her direction like it owed her money before redirecting her glare back out the window.

Rin made a noise somewhere between a sigh and an 'ugh', glancing between the girls that were sitting across from her. Honoka was on the left, a classic goofy smile on her face as she reveled in the unfolding drama (which had in fact been unfolding since the second they got there), Umi in the middle with a stoic and serious expression despite the unrealistically large ice cream come in her hand. Nico was on the right, also she hadn't stopped complaining since they sat down ten minutes ago, which definitely had to be a new record. Rin held her hands up defensively, "Nico-chan, she's not a demon, she just-"

"I didn't know Otonokizaka let middle schoolers join the softball team," Maki mumbled, interrupting. Nico, with her oddly dog-like hearing, heard it anyway, standing up and slamming her hands on the table.

"First of all, FU-" she started to yell before receiving a swift chop on the head from the nearby Umi, hard enough to send her back down into her seat. In the flurry of whisper-shouted argument between Nico and Umi, and also Honoka, who decided to interject herself into the conversation, Rin leaned over, looking at Maki with an uncomfortable, nervous, and slightly terrified look (kind of like that doggo meme, you know the one).

"Maki-chan," she whispered. "You can't just say mean stuff like that to people."

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault that shortstop over there wants to start shit," the redhead grumbled in response, crossing her arms.

Nico was practically steaming with rage, inhaling deeply as she prepared to launch a more successful verbal assault this time. Honoka giggled, leaning on the table so that the upperclassman could see the shit-eating grin she was wearing.

"Pffft, she can't even say anything because she actually is the shortstop."

It was a pretty good jab, despite Maki probably having no idea what a shortstop was, or the fact that it had nothing to do with height.

Before Nico managed to think of a proper enraged response, Umi gave her a stern, warning look. "Nico. You need to settle down. Or else."

"She started it!"

"Yes, and I'm ending it."

Rin snickered at the utter fucking roasting that Nico was receiving tonight. The sizzling sound of Rin laughing caught Nico's attention, causing her to point and snarl at the ginger. "How 'bout you uncross your eyes before you go laughing at me, you little punk."

"I'm not cross-eyed!" Rin frowned.

"You're a little cross-eyed," Honoka piped up, shrugging. Rin pouted, not clever enough to think of a quick comeback. She opted to instead eat her sundae in silence.

The conversation at the table soon turned into a regaling of tonight's game, which then quickly turned into Honoka dramatically reenacting some of the plays, in which she acted out the roles of every member of both teams.

Rin spoke up as Honoka gestured swinging a bat and then shielding her eyes with a hand and squinting as she pretended to watch a fly ball soar across the dining area of the Friendly's. Yes, they were at a Friendly's. They have good ice cream, okay? "Honoka-chan, are you planning on really joining the team now?"

"Nah," the chubby girl smiled, shaking her head. "It was fun for one night, but I think I'd rather just watch. Besides, what would the Otonokizaka Softball Fan Club do without its president?"

"We don't want you on the team anyway, you're fucking annoying," Nico said.

"That makes two of you then."

At that snarky comment out of Maki's mouth, Nico attempted to leap up from the table. Attempted, because Umi instantly grabbed the tiny third-year by the back of her jacket like Nico was an angry cat trying to claw up their brand new leather couch just to make a point. The point was not made, as Umi carried Nico outside, dropped her on the concrete of the parking lot, and started reprimanding her very loudly like a suburban white PTA mom whose kid just threw a temper tantrum at the quarterly bake sale. The rest of the team went back to their various conversations, except for Honoka, who was watching out the window intently like it was her favorite movie. If Friendly's sold popcorn she probably would've had popcorn.

* * *

Rin somehow managed to get Maki to keep her sarcasm and rudeness to acceptable levels after that, though the occasional scathing comment did slip through. Most of her comments were directed at Nico, but she did at one point call Honoka a "brain-dead traffic cone" which was as hilarious to Rin as it was uncalled for. (Rin soon came to the conclusion that it was probably because Maki was still mad at a certain blonde upperclassman) But they managed to keep it relatively civil Umi started ushering the team out when the bus driver motioned to his watch from the other side of the window.

Rin shimmied out of the booth after making sure to consume every single ounce of melted ice cream from her sundae, which actually took her so long that the rest of the team had already made their way outside to board the bus. She straightened her hoodie out, brushing off some stray sprinkles. Maki slid out of the booth after her, tugging gently at the back of the ginger's sleeve, once, twice until she got Rin's attention.

Before Rin, eyebrows raised curiously up at the other girl, could utter a questioning "nya", Maki grabbed her hand, awkwardly and clumsily tangling their fingers together. Rin blushed, and then noticed that Maki was blushing, which added to her own flusteredness and basically it was really really gay. Rin wasn't entirely sure what to do because she hadn't been exposed to this level of gay before. Rin was about to open her stupid mouth to say something stupid (she didn't know what, as she hadn't planned that far yet) but Maki spoke up before she could.

"Do you want a ride home?" Maki mumbled, staring down and off to the side slightly at an apparently very fascinating part of the carpeted floor. Fuck, what kind of restaurant has carpeted floors, goddamned Friendly's.

"What?"

"Yeah, uh, my family's driver is here to pick me up," Maki explained, pulling Rin along and leading her outside, her grip on Rin's hand maybe just the tiniest bit too tight. Weirdly, Rin didn't mind that much. "I mean, you don't wanna take the bus back, right?"

She brought up a good point. Rin knew that the second she sat down on that bus, the barrage of questions and teasing and more questions would hit her all at once. The team (except for Nico) was being considerate before by not interrogating her about Maki while she was within earshot of them, but all bets would definitely be off now. So yeah, Maki was pretty damn right about her not wanting to take the bus back.

"Yeah, actually, that would be…" Rin nodded. She decided not to bring up the fact that Maki's family apparently had a driver? "That would be cool."

Maki gave her a quick nod, pulling her through the door and into the parking lot outside. The air was colder than when they'd got there, the sun starting to dip down below the line of trees and mountains on the horizon. Rin, scratching her cheek nervously, turned to look at the other girl.

"Okay, so like… I'm not cross-eyed, right?" she asked, light eyebrows furrowed in what was obviously supposed to be a serious expression, but she mostly just looked like an upset child.

"Uh," the redhead paused. "No?" It sounded like a question, like Maki wasn't entirely sure how to answer. Because Rin was definitely at least a little cross-eyed. Rin didn't seem to notice Maki's hesitation, instead huffing and crossing her arms.

"Right!? Nico-chan's a freakin' liar," she pouted, glancing over at the parked bus on the other side of the lot. "Oh, uh, I gotta grab my bag really quick."

Maki gave her another sharp nod. With that, Rin took off running for the bus, jumping on without slowing down and sliding to the seat she had left her uniform bag on. Honoka and Nico immediately bombarded her with questions, Nico jumping out of her own seat to block the aisle so Rin couldn't get back to the door. Umi started yelling at everyone to calm down. The bus driver sighed. From outside where Maki was watching with a mixture of confusion and horror, the bus shook and rocked comically.

Rin turned on her heel, rushing back towards the door of the bus with her gym back in tow. Umi lifted Nico out of the aisle by her arms, picking her up stiffly like a cardboard cutout before Rin could bowl her over. Honoka attempted to chase after the smaller ginger, but instead tripped over her own feet and fell face-first onto the bus floor with a loud THUNK. Rin leapt to safety, dashing across the concrete and skidding to a stop in front of Maki.

"Okay!" Rin chirped, her breathing only a little bit heavier than normal despite just sprinting across the parking lot and back. "Got it. We can go now."

Maki said nothing. There was nothing that could really be said after what she'd just witnessed. To their left, a car honked.

Maki grabbed Rin's hand again, with much more success this time although it was still a little awkward. She lead Rin to the car in question, a suspiciously nice SUV with a matte black paint job, dark windows, and some pretty cool looking wheels. Rin found herself a little disappointed because she thought it would be a racecar. It was still cool, but it wasn't racecar cool. Maki opened the door for her, which was really gentlemanly and nice of her, which made Rin give her a slightly confused squint.

She found the leather seats a tiny bit uncomfortable, because they weren't very soft and they were a little squeaky, like if you say down on a chair but it wasn't a chair and was just a bunch of ducks instead. Rin had never felt a duck, but she assumed that they aren't soft. Maki slid in next to her, closing the door and leaning forward to talk to the driver.

Rin didn't pay much attention to their conversation, instead poking at the leather headrest of the passengers seat in front of her and wondering if ducks are soft or not. Maki tapped her on the shoulder in an attempt to get her attention.

"Hey, could you put your address into the GPS really quick?"

"Do you think ducks are soft?"

"...What?" Maki frowned at her. Realizing that she had just completely spaced out, Rin blushed, pawing at the GPS in Maki's hand and fumbling it, dropping it onto the seat between them. She grabbed for it again, now even more embarrassed because her preexisting embarrassment had turned her extra clumsy. Tapping at the touchscreen on the little device, she punched in her address with minimal spelling errors before handing it back to Maki, who handed it up to the driver.

The first few minutes of the car ride were spent in awkward silence, Rin drumming her fingers against the edge of the back seat and glancing around the car absently. It was really nice, despite not being a racecar. She figured that at some point somebody neglected to mention to her "oh, yeah, we're rich by the way" but hey, better late than never. It kind of made her wonder why Maki felt like she needed to win the grant so badly in the first place if they could have stuff like a fancy rover and a fancy driver to drive the fancy rover.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Maki tapped her on the shoulder again. "Hey, I know I said this earlier, but good job. With the game, I mean. Do you…" she hesitated. "Do you think you'll win Nationals?"

"Well, I mean," Rin began, scratching the back of her head nervously. "I hope we win. We've been trying really hard, ya know? So if we don't win it would be pretty lame."

Maki nodded, but didn't reply. Rin stared quietly at the spotless carpet under her sneakers. They sat in silence for a few moments longer before Rin gulped, deciding to voice a rebuttal question that she wasn't entirely sure was a good idea or not.

"Do you think you'll win your art competition?" Rin asked, lifting her head to look at Maki.

The redhead was glaring out the window, facing away from Rin, so she couldn't quite see the other girl's expression. She really shouldn't have brought it up after all, huh? Just when the worry and the self-doubt started bubbling inside of Rin's mind, Maki turned to her, hands balled into fists on the leather seat.

"I know I'll win," she said, her voice quiet, but clear and filled with what Rin could only assume was determination, but probably had other stuff mixed in. "I'll win, and I'll get the grant and I'll… prove that I'm okay. And that I don't have to leave."

"I wouldn't let you leave, anyway. I'd miss you too much," Rin blurted out. It took them both a second to process what she'd said, at which point they blushed at Rin's words. The ginger had to resist the urge to smack herself in the forehead because holy fuck, why does she not have any sort of brain to mouth filter? In the midst of the embarrassment, a still-blushing Maki slid her hand across the leather, catching Rin's hand and lacing their fingers together, less hastily, less clumsily.

"Thank you," Maki mumbled, so quiet that Rin almost missed it entirely. She stared at Maki, flustered and hopelessly gay in the back seat of the car as it sped past streetlamps, and thought, just for a second, ' _maybe I should kiss her again_ '.

The car slowed to a stop, not abruptly, but it felt abrupt in Rin's mind as she glanced out the window to her left and realized that they were stopping stalling in front of her apartment building. She begrudgingly untangled her own hand from Maki's, missing the warmth immediately, so that she could push the car door open. She was halfway through stepping out, one foot on the pavement with the other still on the floor, when Maki grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back, just a little, into a kiss that lasted a few seconds longer than the previous one they had shared earlier that night, but a few seconds shorter than either of them would have liked. By the time that Rin noticed the subtle taste of cherry cola and vanilla ice-cream on Maki's lips, the redhead had forced herself to push Rin back out of the car.

Rin stumbled backwards a step or two, reorienting herself on the sidewalk before unleashing the biggest, brightest grin in Maki's direction. (Maki had to look away so as not to blind herself. Really, Rin was far too cute sometimes)

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Rin chirped, still with a leftover blush on her cheeks under the light of dim streetlamps and car headlights.

"Yeah," Maki nodded, the slightest hint of a smile on her usually bitchy-looking face. "See you tomorrow, Rin."

* * *

 _Ckik here. I just wanna really quickly thank everybody that's expressed concern over my month-long absence. I promise I'm alright, I just have poor time-management and a very demanding job._

 _There are I think 6 chapters left after this. As always, thanks for all of the feedback. You guys rock, and as always, if anybody wants to talk gay idols, my tumblr inbox is always open._

 _See y'all next week!_


	19. Hit For The Cycle (Part One)

After the whirlwind that was last night's game and the events that followed it, it went without saying that Rin was a little tired. Her morning classes passed in a blur, the lines of words in her heavy textbooks running together until she eventually dozed off, falling asleep sitting up at her desk. When the lunch bell rang she barely heard it, a distant buzzing in her ears as she rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was far from 100% but at least now it was time for food. Halfway through wiping a bit of drool off her chin groggily, something was dropped on her desk from over her shoulder, which wasn't loud but was certainly sudden, startling her fully awake.

Rin blinked, her vision readjusting as she stared blankly at the bundle on her desk. A small drawstring gym bag, her's specifically, black and gray with yellow zigzags and the logo of some shoe company, and presumably holding her softball uniform like it always did. How did that get there? She turned to her left slightly, now seeing Maki standing over her silently. Rin blinked again, then looked back at the bag on her desk, and then back at Maki, tilting her head in confusion like a housecat that was chasing a red dot across the carpet, when Maki turned off the lazer pointer, causing the dot to disappear and leaving the cat very very confused.

"You left this," Maki stated, nodding towards the bag.

Rin totally hadn't even realized that she'd forgotten it until just now. Because Maki told her that she did. Just now. She decided to voice this. "I didn't even notice that I forgot it."

"Yeah, I figured. I threw it in the wash for you," Maki explained, glancing down and to the left for just a second. "I mean, I was doing other laundry anyway, so it wasn't like it was a big deal or anything."

Rin grinned like a moron (because she was a moron), a big bright, stupid grin that she couldn't hold back because it sounded like Maki was _actually_ being kind of affectionate, in her own weird, tsundere way. And Rin thought it was kinda cute. Maki, despite herself, couldn't help the small smile that crept up on her, just a little, tiny bit, because Rin's toothy grin was disgustingly, annoyingly contagious. Somewhere between Maki sitting down at the desk next to Rin's and Rin going to grab her own bento from her bag, Honoka barged into not only the classroom, but also the conversation, effectively ruining the cute moment that the two were having immediately prior to that.

She was jumping and shouting her excitement for the upcoming game on Friday, even though the previous game was literally less than 24 hours prior. She bounced into the aisle between the desk, her foot catching on a chair leg and almost bringing her face directly into the surface of the desk in front of Rin's, but she managed to catch herself before that happened. At the same time, Hanayo wandered over with a large bento that was entirely filled with rice, no main course or anything, all of the compartments just had rice. Those two launched into some conversation about gossip and the state of Hanayo's blog, which apparently didn't get taken down but she did post an angry rant about how people shouldn't report her blog because it's an unbiased news source, and you "wouldn't complain about a newspaper". Even though they're nothing alike. Rin stopped listening to them at that point, mostly because she didn't care, but also because Maki tapped her on the shoulder, which meant that she wanted Rin's attention, and Rin would definitely rather pay attention to Maki than that ridiculous mess of a conversation.

"We should exchange cell numbers," Maki said, brandishing her fancy expensive smart phone. It was the rose gold one, specifically. The old model though, because fuck it being waterproof, she liked having a headphone jack, thank you very much. Maki blushed when she saw the grin Rin was giving her. "Just to prevent stuff like this from happening again. And not because I wanted to text you or anything."

But Rin knew it's because Maki wanted to text her. Rin nodded, retrieving from her blazer pocket her comparatively shitty older phone, one of those little Samsung ones with the slide out keyboard and no front-facing camera.

"...Does that have infrared?" the redhead asked after staring at the phone in Rin's hand in confused silence for a few seconds.

"I don't even know what that is."

"Okay, well I guess we're... doing this the old fashioned way," Maki pried Rin's crappy phone (with a hello kitty phone charm on it) from her hands and tapped uselessly at the screen for a few second like an idiot until she figured out that that wasn't going to work. Finally discovering the slide-out keyboard, which Rin repeatedly insisted is cool, she punched her own number into the contacts and then typed out a quick text, sending it to herself before handing the phone back to Rin.

It was back in Rin's hands for a maximum of three seconds when it buzzed, alerting her of the reply text that Maki just sent her. Rin opened the message and it was just a box because her phone couldn't display emojis. Rin frowned, showing the screen to Maki, who then rolled her eyes and sent Rin another, more successful text.

It was a little heart, made with a less-than symbol and a three. Adorable.

Rin grinned like an idiot again, and Maki blushed, turning the other way, probably because she didn't want Rin to see her getting all blushy over sending a dumb little heart emoticon. It was too late, Rin saw her blush anyway.

Maki, shoulders a little tense with embarrassment, turned back around, mouth open to say something, presumably something tsundere and gay, when a knock on the door frame catches everyone's attention. A girl with ash-blonde hair and a second-year tie stood in the open door, looking like she was searching for someone specific. Her gaze fell on Rin, and she made a face like she found what she was looking for.

"Hoshizora-san, would you mind if I borrowed you for just a minute?" she chirped, and Rin pointing at herself in confusion, communicating the unspoken question of 'me? are you sure?'. The upperclassman nodded, and Rin leaned over to Hanayo and Honoka, her face betraying her confusion. She felt like she recognized this girl, but couldn't quite remember, which happened to her exceedingly often.

"Who's this chick?" she whispered.

"Rin-chan, you've met her before, that's Kotori-senpai," Hanayo explained, obviously a little exasperated at having to re-introduce her to Rin. "She's the Newspaper Club President."

"She's in Umi-chan's homeroom, I think, so I don't know her. What does she want?" Honoka asked.

"I was about to ask you guys that," said Rin with a small shrug, looking at Hanayo expectantly.

"I don't know, she hasn't said anything to me about this. Just go talk to her?" Hanayo insisted, pointing Rin back over to the door. The Kotori girl smiled at them, waving a little. Rin gulped, getting out of her chair and making her way over to the door, the two then stepping out of the room to talk in the hallway.

Maki grumbled something under her breath, arms crossed and narrow eyes glaring down at her half-empty bento. Honoka couldn't quite hear what she was mumbling about, but she definitely noticed the grouchier-than-usual look on the first-year's face.

"Are you jealous?" Honoka asked, with a sly little smirk and raised eyebrows. "Ooh boy, wait until Rin-chan hears about this."

Hanayo glanced up at then, pulling out her phone and rapidly typing out notes. Maki lifted her gaze, a furious glare directed at the two girls. Hanayo slowly put her phone down, raising her hands defensively like it was a hostage situation, while Honoka's grin melted into a frightened and nervous grimace, not feeling quite so smug anymore

"I am not jealous. You'd better not say anything about it to her," she growled, leaning intimidatingly towards Honoka, before turning to point a finger at Hanayo, causing the brunette to squeak like a frightened field mouse. "And don't you say anything about it on your weird blog or whatever, either."

The two girls nodded stiffly, both like, 200% sure that Maki will actually kill them.

* * *

 _Ckik here. Yeah, sorry that I haven't updated in a while. A very long while. Things have gotten a bit disorganized lately, but with the holiday break upon us I should hopefully be able to find time to wrap this up?_

 _TBH this is only the first half of this chapter. Thus the "Part 1". I just needed to get something posted, ya know? So hopefully I'll have the second half ready by Friday_

 _Who knows at this point? We'll find out together_


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